Neurosis
by Umbradominus19
Summary: Moving to a new city can have many difficulties. Avery, while he wouldn't be too keen to admit it, is experiencing them...and then some. However, with the help of some extraterrestrial beings (and vice versa), Something wonderful could happen in the town known as Beach City. (rated M due to sexual content)
1. Chapter 1

Beach City is a place that could be classified into two different states of being: The first (and most expected to the average passerby or vacationer) being a sleepy little tourist trap seemingly devoid of much, if any, intrigue. This seemed to be much the case at most of the time.

The second state, however, held far more interest to most people. Extraterrestrial technology. Giant monsters. Beings with supernatural powers. Today, many people would likely scoff at or mock you for even thinking of believing in such ridiculous claims, calling you any number of profanity which could most be summarized with "You're a Fool".

Well, consider the young man driving near the outskirts of town said fool.

The man in question was currently in a grey car, rumbling along the slightly roughly paved road. He was a tall, thin man, not having much definition in terms of fat or muscle. He was in the midst of positioning his messy ebon hair to get a better view of the sky. It was slate grey, much like his eyes.

 _Looks like it's been raining_ he thought.

He lowered his gaze back to the trail he was on, collecting his thoughts back to his previous mulling. He found it understandable, most people thinking he was mad to find truth in the mystical claims of the city he was heading to. At the same time, however, he couldn't help but feel a bit cheated that he was one of the only people he knew that could find some inkling of right within the claims.

He shook off his momentary frustration and focused his efforts on what his awaited destination held for him: Not just a relaxing shoreline and the possibility of something larger than he is, but both.

Yes, of the coin that was Beach City, he didn't care whether it landed heads or tails. Either of the two states of being would be to his liking.

Regardless, he couldn't help but let doubt crawl into his subconscious.

 _What if I don't get the job? It's been so long since I've been to this city, they don't know me. They most likely have several other more qualified candidates. Even if I do get it, the moving company isn't going to be here for a couple days, so for the time being I've only got the clothes on my ba-_

He put his rapidly speeding train of thought to a halt, pulling over his car to do the same physically.

 _Deep breaths, Avery…Deep breaths_ He chanted to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose to prevent the inevitable feelings of an oncoming headache.

Shaking himself off, both mentally and physically, Avery proceeded to start his car. _Alright, back along my merry way…if I can call it merry after what just happened._

After about a half an hour or so, he finally made it: Beach City. Pulling over to the side of the main road, Avery stepped out of his vehicle. It seemed that his previous assumption of it raining was true, as the many potholes were filled with water and the air smelt of wet pavement. The corners of Avery's mouth, as well as the entirety of his head, hooked upward in joy. The scent wafting through Avery's nostrils were accompanied by memories from long ago: Him and his father on a porch during a rainy afternoon, his siblings under a fort of blankets, giggling and "hiding" from the storm outside. Such thoughts made him yearn for the past.

Avery's nostalgic throwback was interrupted, however, when he heard a noise.

* _grumble*_

Looking downward to his stomach, Avery came to a conclusion.

 _Alright, before I meander into Possible-Mid-Life-Crisis-Thoughts-Even-Though-I'm-Nowhere-Close-To-Fourty, perhaps I should get some food in my system._

Surveying the area for what might be appetizing, Avery's eyes stopped near the end of the main street, and what seemed to be a large circle on top of a building.

 _The Big Donut, huh? How original_ Avery thought sarcastically. Despite this, a donut did sound rather nice, so headed in that direction.

Walking through the door, an all too familiar jingle on his heels, the person working the counter (a teenage girl, by the looks of it) snapped to attention. The other worker, this one a boy, didn't seem to care a customer was at the store, his phone holding much more interest over him.

"Hi there, welcome to the Big Donut! What can I get for you?" The girl said

"I'll take a Chocolate, if you have any" Avery responded

"Comin' right up!"

Upon hearing a stranger's voice, the other worker looked up from his phone and took notice of the customer.

"Never seen you around here" He said, with a very traceable amount of indifference.

"Oh, That's because I'm not from here, I just got into town." Avery replied

"I see." The girl picked up the conversation "Are you a tourist or here for the long haul?"

"Long haul. I got an interview over at the hospital."

"For what position? Janitor?" The boy laughed at his own joke

"Lars!" The girl cried

"Oh, lighten up Sadie."

Avery chuckled despite the rudeness of this Lars' comment. "For your information, I'm a therapist. They're needing help in the psychiatric ward."

"Oh, so you help out nutcases?" Lars said

"Essentially." Avery answered with a slight smirk

"Eh, whatever. Though, if you're gonna be living here, take my advice:" upon saying this, Lars pointed to a house in the distance, very close to the shoreline "Stay away from that place." He said with distaste.

"Uh, why? Is it _**haunted**_?" Avery said, smiling and wiggling his fingers

"I wish. It's where those freaks live!"

"Excuse me, freaks?"

"Oh, grow up, Lars." Sadie chimed in "You're just jealous because you can't do what they do. Here's your Donut, that'll be one dollar."

Fishing the sufficient currency from his wallet, Avery paid for the pastry. "Thank you, have a good day."

"You as well, Sir! Good luck with the interview."

"Thanks, I'll be needing all the support I can get."

As Avery walked out the door of the establishment, absentmindedly hearing an argument between Lars and Sadie, He looked toward the house the former had mentioned previously.

It was a gorgeously crafted house, nobody could deny that. From the stone walkway to the front porch and the patio overlooking the sea, it gave off a simultaneous feeling of eloquence and hominess.

Those features weren't what caught Avery's eye most, though.

No, that prize would go to the carving surrounding the house. It appeared to be a…woman? Avery wanted to say it looked like a woman, due to its thin build and billowing hair. Most perplexing of the work of art was its multiple arms.

 _Maybe it's a…religious figure? Or possibly…_

Avery thought back to the far-fetched rumors. With the house and the warning from Lars earlier, he felt his heartrate increase and his doubt for entertaining the rumors dissipate slightly. Maybe that house was where those supernatural beings lived.

Avery didn't let himself get too excited, though. In all likelihood, those who lived in that house were just the village oddities that everyone liked to spread strange rumors about. Be that as it may, he found it unfair that Lars kid labeled them as "freaks". Granted, he hadn't met them, but as long as they don't spread hate a person shouldn't be ridiculed just for being eccentric.

Stopping his inner monologue for a brief period, Avery peered down to his watch.

 _An_ hour _before the interview. What should I do in the meantime?_

Looking up and down the main street, He didn't see much that piqued his intrigue. Just some shops that were either closed or didn't really seem his cup of tea. The most interesting spot was what appeared to be an amusement park/arcade far down the road (Avery always had a soft spot for arcades still in business) but that was also closed.

Looking for any other options to pass time with, Avery looked to the ocean. It was very deserted, most likely due to the previous storm. Weighing all of his options in hand, Avery decided to head to the beach and lounge for a while.

Upon reaching his desired spot, Avery eased himself down on a sand dune and took a bite from his chocolate covered pastry.

 _Mmmm_ Avery thought _Delicious._

Finishing his donut, Avery looked around the beach to find anything of note, after a while deciding the ocean itself proved to be most interesting.

At the moment it was very choppy, with the outermost area he could see creating vast indigo waves that clashed gorgeously with the stone colored sky above.

 _To believe people would pay hundreds to get a view like this…and I get to see it every day._

This thought made Avery smile, both internally and externally, and helped put his mind slightly at ease for his upcoming meeting at the hospital.

Still, he couldn't help but ruminate over the other troubles he thought of earlier. It was true that there were probably other, more qualified people for the job that were also applying. Avery was still somewhat fresh off the heels of college, so it could indeed be possible his intelligence could merely be brushed off as pride or naiveté in comparison to elder person in his same field.

 _Be that as it may, you're here to stay, Avery. That's for the best regardless if you get the job or not._

This thought made Avery close his eyes, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Said inhaling caused him to get a nose full of the sea's scent. Coupled with the already prominent scent of the rain, his nasal cavern felt on cloud nine.

 _You know what?_ Thought Avery _to hell with it. I've a great view, a nice looking new town…_

Avery looked over to the Beach house he was surveying earlier, and his already prevalent smile grew larger _and maybe even something wonderful on my hands. It's time to stop moping and start getting with it._

Avery gazed out to the sea, the torrential waves in the distance and sea spray overloading his senses, and said aloud:

"Alright, Beach City: Show me what you've got!"

* * *

Good morrow, people of Fanfiction! I'm guessing it was pretty obvious to tell but this is my first story. With that being said, any and all criticism/reviews are welcome, I want this to be a learning experience. Oh, and for those yearning for Steven and the Mom Squad, fret no, they're coming soon enough. Thank you so much for those who read this! Stay tuned if you're interested.


	2. Chapter 2

"C'mon, Peri, the storm passed over an hour ago, get out of there!"

"Can't you see the clouds are still dark? I must be prepared! I won't let some atmospheric change best me!"

The pseudo-argument between Amethyst and Peridot had been going on for several minutes, most of Peridot's dialogue coming from inside a fort of cushions. Steven had been listening with some mild interest, giggling at Amethyst's slang and Peridot's fish out of water tendencies.

This, however, was not the boy's main focus of attention. That belonged to a man Steven didn't recognize who had been sitting at the beach for some time. The man seemed to be lost in thought, by Steven's calculations.

He must have appeared the same way as soon after this judgement, a certain slender gem came over and inquired:

"Are you alright, Steven? You seem… distant."

Steven smiled at his guardian. _Protective as usual_ he thought.

"No, I'm just thinking about that guy over at the beach. I haven't seen him before."

Pearl peered through the window she and Steven were near and came to the same conclusion.

"Hm. I suppose you're right. Eh, maybe he's a tourist." Pearl said, not giving much mind to the human.

"I think I'm gonna go say hi."

Pearl's mind instantly snapped into panic mode

"Steven are you sure? You don't know who he is, what if he does something to you? Besides, like I said, he's probably just a tourist, I'd assume he would be gone in just a day or so."

"Or he moved into town. C'mon Pearl, you really think I can't handle myself?"

"That's not the point, Steve-"

"Pleeeeeeease?" Upon saying this, Steven's eyes transformed into their signature "star" mode.

"Why exactly are you so keen on talking to this man?" Pearl questioned

"I dunno, I guess I just have a-"Before finishing his sentence, Steven lifted his shirt to reveal his gem " _ **Gut feeling!"**_

Steven looked around the room, waiting for the laughter to que in.

… It never came.

Steven cleared his throat and continued "Besides, this is the same kind of feeling I had when I saw Connie or wanted to let Peridot stay. You know better than anyone not to question me on those feelings."

Pearl sighed _He does have a point_ She admitted internally _Still…_

"Garnet, what do you think?"

Said gem this whole time had been sitting on the couch (or what remained of the couch due to Peridot's architectural feat) and listening to Steven and Pearl's conversation. She could somewhat understand where Pearl was coming from, with her extremely maternal way of being "Stranger Danger" did seem to be a top priority for the pale gem. On the other hand, Pearl (as most people who met her knew) had a tendency to be incredibly overbearing, so she was most likely taking this whole situation out of hand. Besides, Steven was right about one thing:

You don't question him on these feelings.

"… As long as he's careful" Garnet said.

"Yes!" Steven exclaimed

Pearl exhaled in defeat. "Alright, fine." She couldn't help but smile over Steven's jubilation over something so simple. "But remember: if he tries to offer you candy…"

"I bash him over the head with my shield!"

"Atta boy!" Amethyst cheered

Pearl glared at the purple woman "I was thinking more along the lines of say no and run back home."

"Eh, my version's better." Said Amethyst

Pearl sighed in exasperation "Alright, go on, say hi."

This gave Steven the signal to run out to the porch and down to the waterfront where the man was sitting.

* * *

"Hi there!"

Avery turned his head to see a chubby boy beaming at him.

 _Wow. Those are some pearly whites._

"Um, hi." Avery said as politely as he could muster

"I haven't seen you around here. Did you just get here?"

Avery chuckled at this statement. _Now where have I heard that in the past half hour?_

"Yeah, I just got in from the city, I'm moving here."

"That's great! Beach City is awesome, you're gonna love it here!" the boy said

Avery smiled. _Good lord, how can one person be so happy for regular conversation?_

Not that Avery was complaining. Said happiness was becoming rather infectious.

Because of this, Avery decided to humor the boy with more info of himself.

"I've actually been here before. I can agree, it's a nice place."

"Awesome." The boy said. He then stuck out his hand and replied "I'm Steven. Steven Universe."

Avery reciprocated by placing his own hand in Steven's. "Avery Pemberton, nice to meet you Steven… wait is your actual last name Universe?

"Yup!" Steven replied. "Same as my dad!"

"That's a pretty fantastic last name." Avery wasn't lying when he said that

"Thanks!" Steven said.

"So, tell me Mr. Universe, what exactly inclined you to come talk to me?"

Steven shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. I just saw you sitting by yourself from my house, I got this feeling and I wanted to say hi."

"I see." Avery responded "Well, I have to thank you. I've been feeling pretty antsy but our talk has calmed me down a bit."

Steven's face then turned inquisitive. "Why were you feeling nervous?"

"Eh, it was because of a culmination of things, mainly the fact that I have a job interview in about half an hour."

"Where's the interview at?"

"The hospital. I'm a therapist and they're needing a mental health professional to help out."

Once again, Steven's face changed. This time into exuberance. "No Way! My friend's mom works out there!"

"Oh, really? Who's this friend of yours?"

"Her name's Connie. Connie Maheswaran."

"Maheswaran, huh? No kidding, I'm actually meeting a Mrs. Maheswaran at my interview. Small world."

Steven then stood in a dramatic pose, arms and legs flexed. "This must be fate!"

Avery gave a little laugh "Fate? I'm not so certain about that."

"No, I'm serious. When I saw you out here I got the same feeling I got when I met Connie and Peridot. When I get those feelings I know something good is bound to happen!"

"Who's Peridot?"

"Oh, she's a friend of mine who lives with me and the other gems." Steven explained whilst pointing his thumb toward the beach house.

"Oh, I s-… hold on. You live _there?"_ Avery's eyes widened at this realization

"Yeah, that's where the gems and I live."

"The gems… who might they be? If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all. Even though you just moved here, I'm surprised you haven't heard any rumors about us."

"I think I might have, actually." Avery's excitement was building at the possibility of proving those rumors true. "Mainly things about supernatural beings who protect the city. Are those the gems you're talking about?"

"You know it!"

"And you said you're one of them?" Avery's curiosity was at its peak.

"That's right!" Steven proclaimed this proudly, hands on hips.

Suddenly, Steven raised his shirt to reveal a deep pink gem deep seated within the boy's belly button. This cause Avery to jump back slightly in surprise.

"Woah! That's… something else."

"Oh believe me, you don't know the half of it. Check this out!"

For a split second, the two of them were engulfed in a bright pink light. Once the brightness subsided, Steven held what appeared to be a shield made out of quartz in his hands.

"Pretty neat, eh?" said Steven, proud of his handiwork.

Avery, dumbfounded at the event that transpired, was about to say something that resembled a long string of stuttering attempting to resemble normal speech when he was stopped by a shrill voice.

"Steven! You weren't actually going to take Amethysts advice, were you!?"

"Wha- Oh, hi Pearl! Nah, I was just showing Avery here my Skeelz."

"Oh, Steven, what are we going to do? He's most likely scarred for life."

"Scarred for life?" Avery interjected, a smile plastered on his face. "You're joking, right? That was amazing!"

Steven and Pearl turned towards the man and asked simultaneously "You really think so? Pearl being more questioning, clashing with Steven's exuberance.

"Of course I do! You don't just see a kid materialize a shield of thin air every day!" Avery exclaimed.

"… I see. Well, I'm at least relieved to hear nothing drastic happened." Pearl said

"So, was that all you came out here for?" Steven asked.

"No, actually. It's almost time for dinner and I need your assistance with some things."

"Oh, Okay! See you Avery, Nice meeting you! Good luck with your interview!" And with that, Steven rushed back to the beach house.

"Uh, thank you. It was nice meeting you as well, Steven." Avery shouted after him.

Pearl was about to turn after to follow Steven when she was stopped by Avery's voice "So, Pearl, was it? I take it you're one of the gems Steven has spoken so highly about."

Pearl sighed internally, not wanting to spend much more time then she needed with the human.

"Yes, I am one of the Crystal Gems. Why might this information aid you?"

"Oh it won't 'aid' me in any way, I just wanted confirmation. Not sure if you heard Steven say it, but I'm Avery." Upon saying this he bowed, one arm in front of his stomach, the other against his back. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

 _Goodness._ Pearl thought. _That was… surprisingly formal._

"You as well, I suppose."

"Say, before you go, I'd like to apologize."

Pearl looked at him in a quizzing manner. "For what, exactly?

"Well, for starters, wasting your time with my inane ramblings when you obviously have things to do." Avery said jokingly. Pearl couldn't help but chuckle, if only slightly.

 _For a human, he's quite well spoken._

"All joking aside," Avery continued "I'm sorry if I kept Steven for too long. You obviously care very deeply about him and I can see how the 'strange new person' could worry you."

"You gathered that from the very little I said to him?" Pearl questioned.

"Well that, and I could see you watching me and Steven while we were talking from the porch."

"… Oh." He was indeed correct about that. Her worry got the better of her and she decided to eavesdrop.

"Well… I suppose there's no need to lie about that, now is there?"

The two of them had a good laugh about that.

Pearl then took the reins of their little exchange. "Regardless, it seems my paranoia was misplaced. You seem alright. For a human, at least."

"Tch, I'm flattered." Avery said mockingly, though not maliciously.

"I won't lie to you, though, you surprise me."

"How so?"

"Just with how… okay you were with Steven drawing his shield. Whenever one of the gems does something magical, most people would just label us as 'strange' or 'freakish' and stay away."

"To begin with, don't pay much mind to those who call you freaks." Avery's mind drifting back to his earlier conversation with Lars. "From the very little I know of you and Steven, you both seem wonderful."

"Oh, well… thank you." Pearl said, nearly blushing at the praise.

"Secondly, I'm not most people. I like strange. Strange is new, strange is interesting. Hell, I work with strange on a near daily basis, I wouldn't get into it if I wasn't drawn to in one way or another."

"I see." Pearl said whilst a smile found its way onto her face. "You're viewpoint is quite refreshing, if I must say."

"And don't you find it somewhat depressing that that's the case?" said Avery with a slight frown. "Life itself is an anomaly too weird and too large for any human to understand, I don't see why many of us can't tolerate a bit of said weirdness here and there. Who knows, something good may come out of it."

"Exactly! Humans can be so closed minded."

"We're kinda the worst at times."

Once again, wholehearted laughter filled the air for the two. This time, though, it was cut short by an electronic buzzing coming from Avery's wrist.

Looking down at his watch, Avery realized just how much time he had spent on the beach. "Ah shoot, I think I'm going to be late for my interview."

Pearl also came to the conclusion on how much they've been conversing. "Oh, I apologize for keeping you here so long."

Avery's smile found its way back onto his face. "Don't be, I really enjoyed our talk." Before turning to leave, Avery finished with "I hope to see you again."

"I hope so as well." Pearl called after him. Surprisingly, she said it completely truthfully, not just out of politeness. Pearl was astounding herself, she hadn't taken this well to a human since Connie came into her and the other's lives.

 _This feels… nice._ Pearl thought.

With this notion, Pearl smiled and started walking back towards the beach house to finish dinner.

* * *

Avery was jogging back to his car, filled with half excitement and half dread for the event that was about to transpire. Even after the somewhat uplifting conversation with his two new acquaintances, he couldn't help but let the same negative thoughts and undesirable possible outcomes plague his conscience.

 _Curse you, brain, for working like this._ Avery thought bitterly.

However, the thought of Steven and Pearl did lighten his thought process.

 _I wonder what those two and the other 'gems' might have in store for me._ Avery pondered with a half smirk.

Looking slightly up, Avery noticed the sky was much less gloomy. Most of the viewable clouds were a bright yellow and the sky itself was a color between blue and purple. Both parts of the sky were due to the setting of the evening sun.

Finally reaching his car, Avery took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of the sea and the wet pavement one last time before heading off.

The combination of the pleasant sent and the view that could only be described as 'eye-candy', Avery thought back to something Steven has said earlier, and had to agree with him.

 _I think I am going to like it here._


	3. Chapter 3

_Well… here it is._

From Avery's frame of reference, the building in front of him looked rather imposing. Granted, it most likely looked to be a regular hospital for most people, but the history Avery had with these facilities probably warped his image of them. Especially this one.

 _You can't stand here forever._ Avery thought. _What happened in there is in the past, you can't change it. You think that would have been drilled into your subconscious by now but no, you always have to make things more difficult than they have to be. Just suck it up and move your legs like a normal person, you idiotic-_

Too preoccupied with his own self berating to realize he had closed them, Avery opened his eyes, coming to the conclusion that A.) He had been physically cringing, and B.) His heartrate was much faster than it was normally.

Leaning against his car, Avery inhaled deeply then exhaled at the same intensity, keeping his repetitious breathing at a steady rhythm to calm himself.

 _It's ok… Everything is fine. You're being far too hard on yourself._ Avery thought.

He couldn't remember when he started to think like this. All that Avery knew that it wasn't something he was particularly fond of. The constant second guessing of his decisions (past, present, and future), the savage tearing and scolding he administered to himself regularly, it felt utterly crippling at times.

Be that as it may, Avery did agree with one thing his brain spoke to him: he couldn't stand there forever.

 _Okay, since thankfully that's out of my system, let's see if I can manage to not make myself look like a fool or a psychotic in front of this Ms. Maheswaran._

In a few strides (albeit slightly shaky ones), Avery found himself inside the building. Nothing of much note appeared to be going on, just a to-be patients in the waiting room and a woman at helm of the front desk. Since he didn't know where exactly his hopeful employer was, said woman seemed to be the next logical target.

"Excuse me, do you know where Dr. Maheswaran's office is?" Avery inquired "I'm here for an interview."

"Oh, sure!" The receptionist answered with a smile. "She's on the third floor at the end of the main hall."

"Thank you."

With that, Avery set off.

While en route towards his destination, Avery took a look at his surroundings and remembered just how much he disliked hospitals. Maybe it was the harsh florescent lighting, the noticeable scent of antiseptic, the dull linoleum floors or a combination of these and other assorted features, but to Avery hospitals always seemed to be such an inorganic place. Even with prior horrible experiences taken out of consideration, Avery never really felt comfortable in these places and dreaded going to them.

 _Maybe it's intentional. I mean, I suppose it is a doctor's job to get people well again so they can continue their daily lives, so I guess it would make sense not to make the place not so comfortable that a patient doesn't want to leave. Regardless, you better get used to the place, you're going to be working in it. At least hopefully._

Saving his observations for another time, Avery arrived at the third floor. He could only assume he was at the main hall, as at the end of the corridor he was in stood a door with a small metal plaque emblazoned with the words "Dr. Maheswaran".

 _There we are_ Thought Avery, walking towards the door with both newly found determination and spring in his step.

Avery knocked at the door, hearing the shuffle of steps and a female voice in the middle of a conversation, most likely over the phone.

"Tell her she can go, but she has to be back before dark. Alright, I have to go, somebody's at my door. Love you too, Doug."

Upon the ending of that proclamation, the speaker opened the door to reveal herself. She had long brown hair, dark skin, and wore a lab coat and grey pants.

 _I hope she doesn't recognize me._

"Can I help you?" She asked

"Yes, I take it you're Dr. Maheswaran?"

"Well I would hope so, they didn't put my name on the door just for fun you know." The Doctor said, half serious, half joking.

"I would assume." Avery said whilst chuckling. He stuck out his hand and continued. "I'm Avery Pemberton, I was told to meet you for an interview."

"Oh, so you're Avery." Dr. Maheswaran said, placing her own hand in Avery's to shake it. "Yes, of course, step inside please."

Avery did just that. Looking around the doctor's office, he didn't see anything of much note. Just a few chairs, a desk and various documents and diplomas on the walls. The only thing that caught his eye was a picture of the doctor with two other people. She stood alongside a man around her height, wearing a furry jacket and glasses, and a young girl with the doctor's same dark skin who also wore glasses.

 _Must be her family._ Avery thought.

"So," the doctor started, snapping Avery out of his observant tendencies. "Hopefully the drive over here wasn't too much of a hassle."

"Oh no, not at all. Just fine, actually, if a little bumpy."

The doctor gave a half laugh, laced with more bitterness than actual humor.

"Yes, we really do need to smoothen out the roads. Mayor Dewey keeps saying 'We'll get to it eventually' but eventually never comes."

"Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a massive headache."

"Well, all we can really do is hope for the best. Anyways, What do you think of Beach City?"

Avery thought back to the exchange he had with Steven and Pearl, smiling all the while.

"I'm liking it. Sure, I've only been here for a couple hours, but it's made a great impression so far. I've heard the climate is fair, the ocean is absolutely gorgeous, and locals seem rather nice."

"Oh, so you've already met some of the townspeople? Who exactly did you meet, I've probably heard of them through one way or another."

"Oh, guessing you've definitely heard of these folks: I had a bit of an encounter with the town's supposed protectors."

"Ah, so you've met our fabled Crystal Gems. Hopefully they didn't scare you too much." Dr. Maheswaran said with a small laugh.

"On the contrary, I found the two that I've met quite delightful."

"Which two did you meet? Wait, before you answer, I want to see if I can deduce one of them."

"Go right ahead."

"Did one of them go by the name Steven?"

"You're correct, one of them was indeed Mr. Universe."

"Tch, I still have doubts if that's his real last name or not."

"Well, even if it isn't, you can't deny it would be a great last name."

"I suppose I can't." The doctor said in a slightly defeated tone.

While Avery was enjoying the light conversation between himself and Dr. Maheswaran, he couldn't help but notice something was slightly off.

 _This is… Surprisingly casual for an interview_

It was so much so that Avery wished to voice his concern for it.

"Say, uh, Dr. Maheswaran?"

"Oh, please, call me Priyanka."

"Very well, Priyanka. I'm enjoying our conversation, I really am, but you're being rather lax for this interview."

Priyanka looked at Avery in a confused manner.

"You think this is an interview?"

"… It isn't?"

"You must've misinterpreted our message. To answer your question: No, it isn't. This is more of a job acceptance meeting."

Avery looked at Priyanka disbelievingly.

"Hold on, you're serious?"

"As I'm guessing you've seen, Beach City is a relatively small place. With the constant incidents related to the Gems happening so frequently people get hurt, both physically and mentally. So, when you emailed the hospital seeing if there were any open positions we happily made room for you. We're needing all the help we can get over here."

Avery leaned back in the chair he was currently sitting and let loose a large breath of air.

"Is something wrong?" Priyanka asked

Avery smiled and said with relief filled in his voice:

"The exact opposite. You just took a huge weight off my shoulders."

Priyanka smiled in return "I'm glad I could be of service."

"So, what exactly am I needing to do to accept?"

"Not much, just some paperwork. Though there is one thing I'm wanting to ask you. Now keep in mind, this is more for my sake than anyone else's, but I still want you to be honest with me."

Avery became slightly worried at the way she phrased that sentence, but still wanted to know what the question was.

"Ask away."

Priyanka's face then morphed into one of great sympathy.

"Are you… feeling any better?"

Avery's heart started to pound and his pupils dilated.

 _Oh God. She does recognize me, doesn't she?_

Avery sighed. "I suppose there's no use avoiding this, is there?"

Priyanka answered "I'm sorry. I understand that this is an uncomfortable topic, but I still need to know. Both for professional and personal reasons."

Avery's face then became stoic.

"Very well. To answer your question, yes I am. I'm not going to lie to you and say my feelings have completely gone away, but there has been a noticeable improvement."

"That'll have to do. Again, I apologize for bringing this up."

Avery smiled sadly at his employer.

"Don't be, it was something that needed to be addressed."

"I've just been rather worried since you left here those few years ago. I'd honestly never met somebody so… fatalistic."

Avery cringed at that last word, mostly because it was true. Back then and even to some degree now.

"Well, sorry if I sound cliché by saying this, but that was then. This is now. Like I said, everything hasn't magically gone away, but I can at least promise you this: I'll try my absolute best to not let this interfere with my work."

Priyanka smiled at Avery.

"I appreciate that."

Standing up behind her desk, the doctor proceeded to offer her hand to the man in front of her.

"Congratulations, Avery: You've got yourself a job."

Avery smiled graciously at the woman before him at took her hand in his.

"Thank you so much! I won't let you down!"

After receiving his paperwork, Avery left the office with a large grin plastered on his face. Priyanka watched the man turn down the hall out of her sight. She was happy for him and knew he would be a great help around the hospital, those were for certain. However, she couldn't help but think of he said before he left.

"'I won't let you down, eh?"

She frowned worriedly.

"I hope so."

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! Nothing much new to say with this chapter, just please leave your reviews if you feel the motivation to. Many thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

'Strange' was most certainly a word Avery could use to describe how he felt when he woke up.

Except he was relatively certain he wasn't awake yet because rather than lying down in his bed, he was standing up in a field surrounded by mountains. A sharp contrast to both the geographical location of Beach City and the hotel he thought for certain he was present in before he turned in early after his job acceptance.

' _Funny'_ Avery thought, taking a look around his current area. _'This place looks pretty similar to…'_

Avery would've finished that internal sentence with 'home', but his train of thought was interrupted when he saw said place of past residence appear in his field of vision.

' _Okay… I take it its very safe to assume that this is a dream'_

Regardless of what state of realism he was currently in, Avery decided to press onward towards the house in the distance.

Shabby wasn't a half bad descriptor for his former home. It wasn't completely ugly or appeared uninhabitable, but it definitely showed signs of wear and age in multiple places. The paint was peeling on several places, the concreate steps leading to the porch had many cracks, and from what Avery could recall the boards on said porch were loose and creaky in places.

' _Just like I remember.'_ Thought Avery with a small nostalgic smile.

As he got closer to the house, Avery noticed two figures standing out of the front of it.

' _Hey, is that… Margaret and Dad?'_

Avery's assumptions were made correct, getting ever so slightly closer to see his father and sister smiling and waving at him.

Becoming somewhat elated (not having seen his family in some time, be it reality or dreams), Avery picked up his pace and continued towards his destination.

Suddenly, both his family and the house vanished.

Avery stopped walking, dumbfounded at what just happened. What perplexed him most about the disappearance was that it wasn't instantaneous. If Avery could describe it in any way it was like his house and family… disintegrated. As if they were a pile of dust blown away by a strong wind.

Alarmed and slightly disturbed, Avery looked around the field to see if he could find something, anything to distract him from what just happened.

Soon enough he did, though it was someone rather than something. Standing alone in the field's clearing, Avery saw _him_ standing alone.

He was dressed in what Avery remembered as his usual attire: A white button up shirt with dark slacks and casual shoes, glasses perched atop his narrow nose. Behind said glasses laid a pair of dark eyes (fitting well with his spiked dark brown hair) that always seemed to brim with intensity. This time, however, the intensity seemed to be mixed with something else… sympathy, as far as Avery could tell.

After standing for what felt like several minutes in silence, wide-eyed and confused, Avery decided to address the extremely large ethereal elephant in the room.

"Kyle? What in the world are you doing-"

Before Avery could finish his statement, the man he was addressing vanished similarly to how his family and house did earlier.

"Wait, please don't go!" Avery said, reaching out in vain to try and grasp some fragment of his old friend.

It was too late, though. He was gone.

And it was after this vanishing act that all hell broke loose.

Suddenly, the sky darkened to a near jet black, light only bursting through when the clouds were torn by a savage bolt of lightning, followed by the almost explosive booming of thunder.

The mountains, or what Avery could see of them in the near darkness, appeared to be closing in around him. Avery wanted to move to try and find some way out, but his attempts were made fruitless as the ground itself seemed to hold him in place and suck him downward.

All of this was becoming far too much for Avery. The deafening and blinding effects of the storm, the mountains making everything extremely claustrophobic, and the ground which felt more like an abyss than anything made for a nightmarish combination.

' _Nightmarish'_ Avery thought. _'That's right, this is just a nightmare. I just have to wake up'_

…

' _Just have to wake UP.'_ Thought Avery, this time more forcefully.

...

…

' _Just… have to…'_

Avery began to feel himself slipping, falling out of whatever reality he had imagined.

…

…

…

* * *

"Okay Steven, let's try this again." Pearl said, trying to not let her exasperation show.

Picking up a piece of chalk and pointing to the blackboard she recently acquired from the old public school, Pearl gestured towards the problem displayed and began to explain it for the umpteenth time.

"With the information we know about this triangle, what function should we use to solve it: Sine, Cosine, or Tangent?"

"U-u-uummm…" Steven stuttered helplessly. What did each function mean again? Also, what would the side next to the xbe labeled, opposite or adjacent? There were so many things buzzing around Steven's head and he didn't know what he should tackle first.

"Isn't it obvious, Pearl?" Steven said with a simultaneously confident yet nervous smile.

"Oh, is it now?" Pearl said in a deadpanned manner. "If it's so obvious, then tell me which it is."

"It's, uh… Sine, Cosine or Tangent, of course." Steven said, bracing for the worst.

"Ugh, Steven," Pearl said pleadingly, hands tangled in her peach hair. "Why is this so difficult for you? I can't teach you if I don't know what the problem is."

Steven felt a small pang of guilt, feeling he let his surrogate mother down. Regardless, he went on to explain what was troubling him so much.

"It's just that there's so much to deal with in these problems, and all these different functions swirl around in my head, and then I don't know what to do first, and because of that I can't tell what's what!"

Upon finishing his rant, Steven plopped his head face down on the table he was using as a makeshift desk, and while in this position said, words muffled by the wood: "I'm sorry Pearl. I guess I'm not smart enough."

"Oh Steven, don't say that." Pearl said consolingly, stroking the boy's dark hair. "I apologize if I'm trying too hard, but I just want to make sure you know the basic skills needed to get by on this planet."

"Then why can't I just go to the public school?"

Pearl sighed. "Steven, you know why I don't want you going there. I just don't think they could provide an effective learning environment for somebody who functions like you."

"Well… okay, if you think so." Steven said, finding his argument easily defused.

"Why don't we try solving that problem again? I think you're very close to getting it" Pearl said assuredly, though at the same time she knew what she said was somewhat false.

"And I think you both need a break." Said a voice from beyond the temple doors.

Said voice belonged to Garnet, striding into the room, finished with whatever particular Gem business she had partaken in.

"Steven, you've been cooped up in here all day, why don't you get some fresh air?" Garnet said

Steven looked to Pearl pleadingly, stars in his eyes and a smile on his face.

' _Drat. My one true weakness.'_ Pearl thought humorously.

"Alright, go ahead." Pearl said with a sigh, smiling despite herself.

"Sweet! See ya Garnet, See ya Pearl!"

Just as Steven was about to run out the door, he stopped, turned around and rummaged for a piece of paper. Once he found one, he went back to his 'desk' and began to scribble down the problems written on the blackboard.

"What're you doing?" Asked Pearl.

"I'm gonna see if being outside helps me think any better, so I'm bringing the problems with me."

"Do you really think that's going to make any difference?"

Garnet walked up to Steven, ruffling his hair in encouragement.

"Couldn't hurt to try." She said.

Pearl shrugged in agreement, and with one last 'Buh-Bye' from Steven, he left.

Garnet surveyed the chalk writings on the blackboard. Turning to her pale friend who was absentmindedly cleaning the kitchen, she said:

"I think you might be trying too hard."

Pearl sighed. "As you've told me many times. I've also told you just as many times that-"

"You just want Steven to be prepared." Garnet finished. "I understand this, and I agree with you wanting to teach him. However," Garnet said whilst gesturing toward the blackboard. "I think the material you're trying to convey to him is a bit too advanced for someone his age."

"Maybe you're right." Said Pearl, looking down at Steven from the window she was near.

"I just wish there was some way I could get him to understand the information."

Luckily for Pearl, Steven was about to run into that something.

Or in this case, someone.

* * *

Steven was currently on the main road looking for something to occupy himself with while thinking over the problems he had so miserably attempted to solve earlier. He thought about calling Connie to see if she could help, but he remembered she had Violin practice. Steven was about to call it quits and just head over to the Fry Shop to get something to eat, but then he saw a certain dark haired individual he met yesterday sitting at the beach.

"Hey, Avery!" Steven called out, running towards the man in question.

Avery turned to the boy who addressed him and smiled. He could use a bit of cheer after the night he had.

"Hello again, Steven. How are you this afternoon?"

"Eh, I'm okay, I guess. What about you?" Steven's face suddenly turned worried "You don't look so good."

Steven was observant. Avery was looking rather pale (At least paler than he usually was) and had dark rings under his eyes.

"Oh, I just had a bit of a rough night, that's all."

"Why is that? Did your interview not go well?"

"Just the opposite, actually." Avery said, brightening up exponentially. "Turns out it wasn't an interview at all, it was a job acceptance."

"Oh, that's great! I guess you could say that…" Steven's hand proceeded to do a jazzy shake, as if presenting something. " _ **Avery-thing**_ went according to plan!"

Steven was half expecting silence after that remark, but instead he was treated to a laugh. Not a fake laugh like he received so many other times when he told a pun, but a legitimate one.

Avery responded "That was pretty awesome, I won't lie to you. Also, yes, I guess you could say that."

Both Avery and Steven shared a good laugh with that statement.

"Say, though," Avery continued "Where's this 'I guess' coming from, is everything all right?"

"Oh, I just can't seem to solve these problems that Pearl gave me."

"So Pearl's your teacher as well?"

"Sorta, a couple weeks ago she started homeschooling me. She keeps saying that 'she can teach better than any public school can'."

"I see. I think I'd have to agree with her."

"Really?"

"Well, this may just be personal bias, but I've never been the biggest fan of the academic environment. From what I've experienced, it quashes creativity and penalizes you heavily for thinking freely. Also, Pearl seems more than intelligent, so I'm guessing her saying that she can teach better is more than just conjecture."

Avery guessed that his phrasing was too complex, because upon looking back at Steven, he could see the boy's eyes were slightly glazed.

"… Too many big words?" Avery questioned.

"Kinda," Steven said with a slight giggle "But I got most of what you were saying."

Avery gave a half laugh in response.

"Fair enough. So, is there any chance you could show me some of these problems?"

Steven reached into his pocket and pulled out his piece of paper he wrote on earlier, handing it to Avery.

"Wow, Pearl certainly has high expectations of you if these are the problems she's giving you."

"I'll say."

Avery looked at the problems, wracking his brain on how Sine, Cosine, and Tangent worked, when he heard a noise from beside him.

* _grumble*_

Avery turned to Steven, a smirk painting his face. "Hungry, are we?"

Steven blushed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

"Well, you can't think on an empty stomach, now can't you? Where are you wanting to eat it's on me… within reason."

"Really?" said Steven, beaming Avery on of his trademark smiles.

"Of course."

"Alright! How about the Fry Shop?"

"Fry Shop, huh? I've heard some good things about that place. Sure, why not?"

Both Steven and Avery got up, walking down the street towards their destination. They were about to continue their conversation from earlier, but were interrupted by loud voice coming from in front of the Fry Shop.

"C'mon, kid, how hard is it to make a stupid batch of Fry Bits!?"

"Amethyst, how many times do I have to tell you and Steven that the bits aren't an actual menu item?"

The exchange was going on between a golden haired boy around Steven's age and a…

' _Purple woman?'_ Avery thought

"Hey Amethyst, Hey Peedee!" Steven said

"Hey Steven." The pair Steven addressed said in unison.

"Who's this?" The supposed Amethyst asked, looking at Avery.

"Oh, this is Avery. He's the guy that I talked to you about yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Amethyst stuck out her hand "Nice to meet ya!"

Avery reciprocated the handshake "Nice to meet you too, I take it you're one of Steve-"

Avery's voice was cut short by Amethyst's exceedingly strong handshake, it practically shaking him around.

Amethyst's laughter was more than prevalent after that little escapade, and after it subsided she answered with:

"God, I love doing that! Also, if you're wondering if I'm one of Steven's mom's, I sorta am. I'm more like a big sister."

"I see." Avery said, trying to regain his balance "Goodness, you have a strong grip."

"Ha, I get that a lot. So, what're you two doin' here?"

"Avery was just gonna get me something here and then we were gonna talk about some of Pearl's schooling stuff."

"Ugh, that again? I swear, Pearl needs to lay off on that crap."

"Well," Avery interjected "I think that Pearl probably has the bar set too high, but I don't think Steven's schooling should be thrown out the window entirely."

"Oh, is that so?" Amethyst said with a devilish grin playing at her lips.

' _What's she planning?'_ Avery thought worriedly.

Suddenly, Amethyst was engulfed in a flash of purple light, and a second later there stood... Avery. Except much more purple.

"Well, aren't I just a big smarty pants who already knows what's best for Steven?" Amethyst-Avery said in a mocking voice of the real Avery.

Said man was standing in utter shock and awe at the event that had just transpired.

"Aw no." Amethyst said, reverting back to her original shape. "I broke him, didn't I?"

"Quite the contrary, Madame that was spectacular! How did you do that!?"

"Wait, you thought that was… cool?"

"Of course I did! Who wouldn't?"

Amethyst was surprised. "A lot of people, actually. Most folks I try that on usually run away." Amethyst was smiling despite what she just said.

"Well, like I said to Pearl, I'm not most folks. Say, are you wanting anything? I'd be happy to pay."

"You for real?" Amethyst asked happily.

"Sure, as clichéd as this saying is, the more the merrier. That and you just showed me shapeshifting is possible so I think that deserves some kind of appreciation."

"SWEET!" Amethyst exclaimed. She was starting to like this guy.

"So," PeeDee addressed to the party "I'm guessing I don't need to ask you two," he said looking at Steven and Amethyst "But what'll it be?"

"BITS! BITS! BITS! BITS!" Steven and Amethyst chanted.

"What else did I expect?" said PeeDee, begrudgingly preparing these supposed 'bits'.

The boy looked away from his work for a moment to address Avery. "What about you, what're you having?"

"I'll just have a small order of fries." Said Avery, wanting to make sure the boy's workload was as light as possible.

"Comin' right up!"

After a couple minutes of waiting, their food was ready. Avery fished the necessary currency out of his wallet, and after paying for the pseudo-meal he, Steven, and Amethyst sat down at one of the several picnic-style tables dotting the outside of the Fry Shop.

"So," Avery started, pointing at one of the several messily draw triangles on Steven's sheet of paper. "You're learning about Sine, Cosine and Tangent?"

"Uh-huh." Said Steven. "I just wish I understood what they meant."

"Well, the words themselves you shouldn't pay much attention too, it's the functions that need to be worried about. Tell me, has Pearl told you about SOH CAH TOA?"

"SOH CAH… what?" Steven said confusedly.

"SOH CAH TOA. It's an acronym for 'Sine Opposite Hypotenuse, Cosine Adjacent Hypotenuse, and Tangent Opposite Adjacent." Avery said, writing down each word as he said them.

"This way, it's easy to remember what each function pertains too."

"Oooooh. I think I get it!" Steven said with a smile, comprehension dawning on his face

"That's good. Now," Avery pointed at a triangle on the paper "With this triangle, we know the length of the longest side, which is the…" Avery paused, looking at Steven expectedly.

Steven scoured his mind for all the terms Pearl taught him.

"The… Hypotenuse?"

"That's Right! We also know the length of the side right next to it, and that means that it's…"

"Hmmm… Adjacent?"

"Correct! Now, since we know those two sides, what function would we use?"

"It would be… Cosine, right?"

"Exactly!" Avery exclaimed, wearing an encouraging smile.

"I think I'm getting the hand of this!" Steven said triumphantly "Keep 'em coming!"

Keep them coming Avery did. He and Steven spent the next half hour or so going over the other problems, and while Steven made a tiny mistake here or there, he essentially got most of the other questions correct. Amethyst, meanwhile, was watching with mild interest, feeling the same amount of elation that Steven did when solving a problem.

"Wooo, I am on Fire!" Steven shouted.

"Those problems didn't stand a chay-unce!" Amethyst chimed in.

Gathering his paper and throwing away his leftover fry bits in a waste basket, Steven then rushed towards the beach house.

"Hey, where are you going?" Avery questioned.

"I'm gonna test this stuff out for real. Thank you so much, Avery!"

"Don't mention it!" the young man called after.

The next several moments were occupied with comfortable silence between Avery and Amethyst, until it was broken by the gem saying:

"Nice kid, isn't he?"

"That's the understatement of the century." Avery said with a small laugh. "I've never met a being filled with so much raw energy and happiness."

"That's Steven for ya. Doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, or what you do: He's happy to call you a friend."

"That's a good trait to have."

"You better believe it is." Amethyst said while standing up. "Well, I think I'm gonna head home myself. Nice meeting you, thanks for the bits."

"Nice meeting you as well."

With that, the purple woman went down the same trail as Steven to the beach house.

* * *

"Test me!" proclaimed Steven as he flung open the door.

Pearl and Garnet turned toward the boy, snapped out of the conversation they were currently having.

"Oh, so you're ready to go over the problems again?" Pearl said with a slight smile, eager to teach.

"No need," Steven said whilst getting in his makeshift desk. "Just give me the test!"

Pearl's face transformed into one of surprise and worry. "Are you sure, Steven? We've barely covered the material."

"Trust me, Pearl: I think I've got this." Steven said proudly.

"Well… if you insist."

Fishing through sheets of homeschooling she had ordered recently, Pearl found the test relating to the material she and Steven had been discussing.

Handing the sheet to Steven, the boy began to test his knowledge. For the next approximate twenty minutes, all that could be heard was the furious sound of pencil scribbling on paper and the occasional 'Hmmm" from Steven.

"I'm finished!" Steven exclaimed, arms skyward in celebration.

"Alright, let's see how you did." Pearl said, striding over towards Steven.

Taking the test from the boy, Pearl could hardly believe her eyes.

"Steven, this is fantastic! I mean, granted, problems 2 and 7 are incorrect, but other than that, they're all right! How did you learn this so fast?"

"SOH CAH TOA!"

"… Pardon?" Pearl said in confusion.

"It's an acronym that Avery taught me to remember those functions."

"Avery? You mean that man you met yesterday?"

"That's the one! We talked about this stuff over fry bits. He made things really easy to understand."

"I see…" Pearl said, blank faced.

"I know that face." Said Garnet "What're you planning?"

Garnet could barely say her piece before Pearl ran out the door saying "I'll be right back!"

The slender gem was currently heading down towards the beach, hoping to find a glimpse of the man she was searching for.

Sure enough, there he was, sitting on the beach where she last talked to him.

"Excuse me." She called out to him.

Avery turned to the voice, thinking for certain it was addressing him as he was the only one on the beach.

"Ah, Pearl! It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you as well." Pearl said honestly. She recalled being pleasantly surprised when she first conversed with Avery.

"What can I help you with?" The man in question inquired.

"Would you be interested in being Steven's tutor?" Pearl asked suddenly.

"Come again?"

"I heard from Steven that you helped him with my homeschooling and it appeared to click so well with him. You also, in all honesty, would seem like a good influence on Steven. I think it's quite obvious that he's taken a shine to you and I think this would make for some good bonding between the two of you. I'm sorry for springing this upon you so suddenly, so please take all the time you need to answer."

Avery smiled at the gem before him. "There's no need for that. I'd be happy to."

"You would? Thank you so much!"

The two discussed the scheduling for the tutoring, shook each other's hands in agreement and went their separate ways.

As Avery started to head back to his car, he looked towards the horizon to see a gorgeous purple-pink sunset.

Avery smiled once again.

' _Maybe moments like these could keep nightmares like last night's away… I can only hope, I suppose."_

* * *

 **Good Morrow, people of Fanfiction! Sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, I just wanted to make sure those of you following me got something soon. Leave your reviews to tell me what I can improve!**


	5. Chapter 5

Avery would've liked to say he had a decent night's sleep, but the sad reality was that was extremely far from the truth.

This time wasn't due to strange nightmares, however, but rather the root cause was just due to restlessness. No matter how hard he tried, Avery just couldn't seem to get even an hour's worth of shuteye without some form of sleep depriving interruption. Be it a dog barking or a car driving by, there were many fleeting noises of the night hell bent on disturbing whatever chance Avery had at a sound slumber.

' _And here I thought a town like this would be quiet.'_ Avery pondered ruefully.

Although, He couldn't complain too much. He was already legitimately loving this town. The people seemed nice, the views were gorgeous, and he already had made a few acquaintances. Even more surprising was that they were in the form of supernatural beings.

Sitting up on his bed, about to prepare for the morning ahead, Avery could help but smile when he thought about Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst. He was lucky to have met such extraordinary so early in his new life at Beach City. Avery let his mind wander very much like a child, and wondered just what kind of unbelievable facets these Crystal Gems could add to his life. However, he hadn't the time to think about this all morning. He had a brand new day ahead of himself! Such a day required preparation.

After showering (thankfully the hotel water supply let him have a warm shower all the way through), Avery went through the mundane motions of getting ready for his day: Combing his hair, brushing his teeth, rummaging through his suitcase to find a new set of clothes, etcetera.

And with that, Avery was ready. However, before Avery was able to waltz out of his hotel room, he heard a noise emanating from his pocket.

 _*Ring, ring, ring, ring*_

Releasing his phone from its confines, Avery surveyed it to see who was calling. It was a number that seemed familiar, but he couldn't recall exactly who it was.

' _Well, might as well answer it.'_

Upon thinking this, Avery held his phone to his ear, pressed the 'Answer' button and said "Hello?"

"Yes, hello." A slightly gruff voice answered on the other end of the line. "Is this Avery Pemberton?"

"This is him speaking, yes."

"Hi there, I'm Al from Movers & Shakers."

"Oh, yes, I've been expecting you." Movers & Shakers was the moving company Avery decided upon before he made his trek out to Beach City.

"I just called to say that your stuff should be there sooner than expected, I think about 3:00 in the afternoon."

"Is that so? That's great to hear, thank you so much!"

"No problem, and thank you for choosing Movers & Shakers."

With that, the two men said their goodbyes and hung up. Avery was elated, he wasn't expecting all of his belongings to arrive at least until a couple days from now. Since that mishap was now corrected, he could finally move into the house he had purchased online.

Stepping out of his hotel room with very visible happiness, Avery walked down to the lobby and subsequently the parking lot of the hotel. He was about to get in his car and head down to the beach to kill some time (like he had been doing for the past couple of days) when Avery was hit by a damning realization: his car was filthy. He supposed he hadn't noticed, being slightly distracted by past nervousness of the move and the wonder of witnessing somebody shapeshift into himself, but the fact still stood.

' _Well then, I obviously can't drive around town with a car like this. I should probably get it washed.'_

Luckily for Avery, he remembered seeing a carwash nearby the Fry Shop where yesterday's antics with Steven and Amethyst took place. As such, he stepped into his car and set out towards the location.

Upon driving out of the parking lot and on to the main road, Avery looked to the heavens to see the sky very much like it was the first day he arrived at Beach City: Slate grey with patches of azure poking holes into the sheet of clouds.

' _Is it wrong of me for kind of wanting it to rain?'_ Avery thought with a small smile. As far back as he could remember, he adored the rain.

Repositioning his attention back onto his driving, Avery saw his destination it the not-to-far distance in the form of a neon elephant sign: the 'It's a Wash' car wash.

The establishment looked like it had seen better years, but is wasn't downright dilapidated. The wash seemed to have only one main washing line, which was understandable given the size of the town it was located in. Excluding the van out in front with the extremely bright decals plastered all over it, not much else really caught Avery's eye.

On the subject of the van, Avery could see a man rummaging in the back of it.

' _Maybe it's the wash's owner?" Avery pondered._

Regardless of who it was, Avery supposed he would figure out sooner than later as he had pulled up to the front of the wash. Getting out of his vehicle, Avery looked towards the van. The man behind it seemed too preoccupied with his search for whatever it was he intended to find, so Avery decided to address him.

"Excuse me." He said.

The man in the van stopped his search and looked out towards Avery.

"Hi there! What can I do for ya?"

The man was overweight, clearly obvious from the elasticity of his white tank-top and jean shorts being stretched a fair degree. What was also obvious about the man was a severely prominent farmer's tan from wearing a T-shirt too long, out there for the town to see due to the previously mentioned tank-top. Another glaring feature (quite literally, due to what little sun that was out was shining directly upon it) was the large bald spot capping his head. This, however, was paired with long and flowing mane of hair gliding down the back side of his head. The man's most noticeable observable trait (at least to Avery) was his large, beaming smile.

"I was just wondering if you were the owner of this car wash."

"You hit the nail on the head! I take it you need a wash?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Avery said with a smile.

"Then a wash you'll get!" the man said exuberantly. "I hope you don't mind a hand wash, though, the main line is busted."

"Oh, that's no problem."

With that, the portly individual ran inside his building and came out a few moments later with the supplies necessary to carry out the upcoming endeavor: A pail, a sponge, and a hose.

Just as he started to turn on his hose to begin his work, the man turned to Avery and said:

"So, are you new around here? I've never seen you before."

"You're perceptive. I just came to town a couple days ago, I'm officially moving into my new house here today."

"That's great! It's nice to see new faces around town." The man stuck out his hand in welcoming fashion. "I'm Greg, by the way. Greg Universe."

Avery took Greg's hand in his. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Greg. My name is Avery."

"Nice to meet ya!"

Avery was about to continue on with the conversation, when something struck him mentally.

"Wait, did you say your last name was Universe?"

"Indeed it is! Pretty sweet, huh?"

Avery chuckled. "I've actually heard it before. You wouldn't happen to be related to Steven Universe, would you?"

"Related? I'm his-"

"Dad!"

Greg peered behind Avery and laughed. "Well, that. Hey, Steve-o!"

Avery turned around to see Steven bounding towards him and Greg, a smile as big as Greg's on his face. He ran past Avery and leaped into his father's arms, both him and Greg hugging each other with great ferocity.

"Hey, dad! I see you've just met Avery."

"Yeah, I was just about to give him a wash." Greg said. "So, how do you know each other?"

"Steven was actually one of the first people I met here." Aver said, picking up the conversation. "He made quite the first impression, I can tell you that much."

"What do you mean?" Greg questioned.

"I showed him some of my gem powers, of course!" Steven said.

"Oh really?" Greg said whilst chuckling nervously. He turned to Avery and said "So, you weren't scared away?"

"On the contrary, I thought it was incredible."

"Oh. Well, that's good."

"Yeah, Avery's a good guy." Steven said. "He's actually the one who helped me solve those math problems I told you I was having trouble with."

"Is that so? Wow, thanks for that! When Steven showed me that stuff I couldn't quite wrap my head around it."

Avery smiled back at the two. "Oh, I was just trying to help, it's no big deal. Say, on the subject of those problems, I'm not sure if Pearl has told you yet, but apparently I'm your tutor now. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, Pearl told me, and I'm more than okay with it!" Steven exclaimed. "You made everything so easy to understand, I hadn't felt that smart in a long time. I'd be happy to have you tutor me!"

"I'm glad to hear that." Avery said. Just as he was about to continue the conversation, he felt a familiar buzz in his pocket. Taking his phone out, he looked at it the see the number of Movers & Shakers displayed upon it.

"Excuse me, I have to take this." Avery said to the father and son.

Pressing the 'Answer' button, Avery opened with "Yes, hello?"

"Hi there, Al again from Movers & Shakers. It pains me to say this, but I have some bad news."

"What kind of bad news?" Avery said cautiously.

"You're stuff's going to be there on schedule, but the movers themselves are out for the day. You're gonna have to move it yourself."

"Are you serious? Isn't there anything you can do?"

"Sorry, all of our other movers already have an assignment." Al said, voice drenched in sympathy.

Avery sighed deeply. "Alright, fine. Thank you for notifying me."

"You bet. Try to have a good move."

"Oh, I'll try. I'm just not so sure how successful I will be." With that, Avery hung up.

"What's the matter?" Steven asked.

"Oh, there's been a snag in my moving plans. My belongings are going to arrive today, but there aren't any movers to help."

Steven gasped slightly before saying "I can help you!"

Avery chuckled. "That's a very kind offer, but I have quite a few things to unpack."

"No, I'm serious! I could get the gems to help, and Dad too!" Steven turned to his father. "Right, dad?"

Greg put a hand on his chin in thought, before smiling and saying "Yeah, I can help!"

"Hold on, are you sure?" Avery inquired, surprised beyond belief.

"Of course I am."

"But we've only just met."

"Yeah, and you also barely know my son and are going to help him get a higher education. That's proof enough that you're a decent guy in my book. Besides, I need to pay you back for tutoring Steven somehow."

Avery looked between the father-son duo and smiled. "You two are far too nice, you know that?"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Steven asked.

"Heh. I suppose it is." Avery said.

* * *

Several hours later, after passing the time conversing with Steven and Greg, all the while getting his car washed to a mirror sheen, Avery was standing in front of his new house waiting for his belongings to arrive.

The house was located in the suburbs of Beach City, and was fairly newly constructed. It only had one floor, which was fine for Avery considering he was the only one living there, and was painted his favorite color: Deep Navy Blue. Call him superficial, but that was part of the reason Avery decided to purchase this particular house.

Suddenly, Avery heard a rumbling in the distance. Looking over to where the sound was emanating, he could see it was coming from a large semi-truck with the caption 'Movers & Shakers' printed on its sides.

' _Finally.'_ Avery thought.

The truck pulled up in front of Avery's house, kicking up clouds of dust as it came closer. As it did so, the window facing Avery was rolled down, revealing the driver.

"Hi, I take it your Avery Pemberton?" the driver said.

"Yes, that's me." said Avery.

"I've got your stuff right in the back. Hey, sorry about the whole moving complication."

"Oh, it is okay, some folks around here are going to help."

"That's good to hear. I'd help you myself, but" The driver revealed a folded wheelchair from where he was sitting. "I'm kinda bound to this thing."

"Oh, I see. Well, no worries. I'm just happy you were able to get my belongings here so early."

A few minutes passed, with Avery moving some boxes out from the truck and into his house, when again he heard the sound of wheels on pavement closing in.

Avery looked from his porch to see Greg's van parked near his house. In front of it stood Pearl and Amethyst, who appeared to be bickering over something, with Steven and Greg trying to mediate it. There also stood a fifth figure among them as well, and she was strikingly familiar to Avery.

' _Wait, is that…?'_ Before he passed judgement on whether it was her or not, Avery decided to call her name and see if he was right.

"Garnet?" he called.

The tall gem looked toward Avery, a small smile playing on her usual stoic face when she caught sight of him. She began to walk towards him, and said in her usual neutral tone. "Well. It certainly has been some time, hasn't it?"

Avery jogged up to her, a smile on his face. "Indeed it has. How've you been?"

"Fine. And you? Have you been feeling better after… You know…"

Avery felt a pang of guilt, thinking back upon the event that she was referring to.

"I am feeling better. I wouldn't say I'm completely over it, but I've found ways of dealing with it."

"That's good." Garnet said.

"Hold on just a minute." Pearl said, stopping her argument with Amethyst. "You two know each other?"

"We met once when he was on vacation here a couple years ago." Garnet answered without as much as a hesitation. It wasn't a lie, per se, but it didn't give away all the information regarding said meeting.

And Avery was perfectly fine with that, if he was being honest with himself.

Pearl looked between Avery and Garnet incredulously before shrugging her shoulders and saying:

"Hm. Very Well."

"So tell me Pearl," Amethyst started "What inclines you to try and know everyone's business?" She said, obviously trying to get a rise from Pearl.

And a rise she did achieve.

"Amethyst!" Pearl exclaimed "I was just asking a simple question! Oh, why do you have to make everything so difficult?"

Amethyst began to cackle hysterically, with Pearl fuming at this reaction. She was about to walk over to Amethyst to give her a piece of her mind when Avery stopped her.

"Hey, it's alright. She's obviously just trying to make you angry, you and I both know that what you asked wasn't at all intrusive."

Pearl calmed herself with a deep breath. "I suppose you're right. My apologies for my outburst."

"It's perfectly fine. We all get angry sometimes."

"So," Greg called out to Avery "Where do you want us to start?"

"Oh, right." Avery recalled what it was they were supposed to be doing. "Bring in everything that resembles a bookshelf first. I have quite a few things to put on them."

"You're a real bookworm, eh?" Amethyst asked.

"Oh, I don't get me wrong, I have tons of books, but it's more than just that. There's movies, TV shows, CDs, video games…"

"Woah!" Steven shouted. "You play video games?"

"You know it."

"You… do?" Pearl asked skeptically. "I thought video games were just for children."

"Hey," Avery said defensively. "Don't insult an art form until you've actually experienced it."

"I'm sorry, but you consider those things an art form?" Pearl asked with a small playful chuckle.

Avery was about to continue the argument when an idea struck him. He turned to Steven and asked:

"Steven, do you have a Playstation 2?"

"Nope."

Upon hearing this (While at the same time feeling immense pity for Steven, not having experienced his favorite console), Avery went into the back of the semi and rummaged around until he found a box labeled 'PS2'. He grabbed the system, a few controllers and a small handful of games, making sure he found one specific game to give to Pearl. He walked out of the truck and handed the system to Steven.

"Here, take this."

Steven gasped in wonderment, his eyes starry. "You're really giving this to me?"

"Trust me, Steven: You need to experience this. Besides, I have another."

Steven squealed in delight.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

"And as for you," Avery said whilst turning to Pearl "When Steven isn't on that, I highly recommend playing this."

Avery handed Pearl a game case and she studied the front of it. It depicted a man on horseback raising a sword to a giant beast of some sort. Pearl read the title out loud.

"Shadow of the Colossus… what kind of game is this?"

"That, my friend, is in my opinion a work of art that rivals the Mona Lisa and Mozart's Requiem. I especially stand by the Requiem piece because this game's soundtrack is amazing." Avery gushed.

"Hmmm…" Pearl thought. She found it somewhat silly that a grown man would defend what she thought were child's toys with the same sacredness as a work of ark or a symphony, but she couldn't help but take notice to the pure pride and sincerity in his voice when he talked about it. Pearl wondered if she could trust his judgement, but then she thought:

' _Well, I obviously do somewhat. I mean just yesterday I asked him on a whim to be Steven's tutor because he would be a good influence upon him. Hmmm…'_

Pearl turned the game's case over, smiling as she gained a sudden inclination to read more about it.

"… Okay, sure, why not?"

"That's great!" Avery exclaimed "I guarantee you'll enjoy it!"

"You know," Amethyst said "When you guys are done flirting, we've already started moving stuff."

"A-AMETHYST!" Pearl shrieked after the purple gem. She went into the semi and grabbed several boxes, blushing all the while.

Avery chuckled to himself at what had just occurred. He was happy to call these beings his… was it too soon to call them friends? He had only met them a couple of days ago, yet here they were, helping him move in.

' _Regardless'_ Avery thought, still smiling at what Amethyst had said. _'Things certainly are going to be interesting.'_

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! My apologies that this chapter took a bit more time to get out, I was suffering to get over a few roadblocks in the form of writers block and scheduling constraints. Regardless, I hope you folks enjoyed it! Leave a review and tell me what I can improve!**


	6. Chapter 6

"I know I've said this before, but thank you all so much." Avery said.

Boxes were piled high as Avery and his impromptu moving crew sat around the newly arranged furniture, eating delicious pizza of the 'Fish Stew' variety at Steven's request. Avery wasn't sure where the name came from, but he supposed that wasn't much of a concern at this point. What did concern him, however, was Pearl. Throughout their entire meal she hadn't eaten a single bite. Whether it was because she couldn't eat pizza or she was on a diet, Avery decided to address the small elephant in the room.

"I'm sorry, Pearl, if you aren't able to eat any of this. I could've gotten something different."

"What? Oh no, its fine." Pearl said. "I just don't find interest in eating."

"So, wait," Avery started, looking between Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet. "You guys don't need to eat?"

"Or sleep. Or breathe air. We're kinda special like that." Amethyst said proudly.

"… I've only know you guys for a few days and yet you've already shattered my reality on more than one level." Avery said, smiling despite himself. "So, why are you eating?" Avery asked the purple woman.

"'Cuz I think its fun." She said

"And you?" Avery asked Garnet.

"I only do this when I feel like it."

"I observe. Well," Avery said whilst turning to Pearl. "Is there anything I can do for you after all you've done to help?"

"Oh, please." Pearl said, blushing with modesty. "I barely did anything comparatively to the other."

"Pearl, you alphabetized essentially all of my belongings." Avery said, gesturing around to the numerous shelves filling the room. All of which were just as he said: Alphabetized without as much as an error.

Pearl must've found the floor very interesting at that moment, as her gaze was set intently upon it.

"My apologies. It's just in my nature to do things such as this." She said.

"I'm sorry, you're apologizing?" Avery questioned. "This is quite literally the most organized I've been in my life and it's all thanks to you."

If Pearl's teal blush wasn't prominent several moments ago, it certainly was now.

"So, my question still stands: What can I do for you?" Avery asked.

"Hmmm…" Pearl pondered. She didn't really know what to ask of this human. He did seem rather kind and intellectual, but Pearl wasn't certain on whether he could help with anything gem related. Besides, he was already going to tutor Steven, so she felt asking any more of him might be greedy.

Pearl was about to decline his offer, when Amethyst jokingly interjected with a mouthful of pizza:

"You can tutor Steven for free."

Pearl sighed deeply. "Amethyst don't be ridiculous, we're obviously going to pay-"

"Done." Avery interrupted.

"… Pardon me?" Pearl questioned.

"I was already thinking about making the tutoring free, you saying just makes it official."

"Are you sure about this?" Pearl inquired further.

"Of course I am. I need to help the protectors of Beach City somehow, now don't I?"

"Thank you." Garnet said bluntly. "You're kindness is much appreciated."

Greg began to chuckle after she said this. "You're way too nice, you know that Avery?"

"Hey, you stole my line!" Avery exclaimed, smiling all the while.

The whole group had a good laugh after that outburst. Though in Garnet's case it wasn't a laugh, it was more like a quiet chuckle. The group settled into a comfortable silence for a couple minutes until it was disturbed by a dry cough from Steven.

"You okay, Steve-O?" Greg asked his child.

"Yeah, I'm alright, I'm just a little thirsty." Said the boy

"Oh, if that's the case," Avery started "can I get you something? Though be warned: I don't have much else at the current moment besides tea."

"Tea works for me!" Steven said.

"Oh, may I help you?" Pearl said "I absolutely adore tea."

"If it isn't too much trouble, I would also like some." Garnet stated.

"Same on this end." Greg added.

"Can I get you anything, Amethyst?" Avery asked.

"Nah, I'll pass." The purple gem answered.

"Very well. Four teas it is."

With that, Avery and Pearl adjourned to the kitchen down the hall.

Turning her head as they exited, Garnet could see the two down the hall from her vantage point. Seeing as she didn't have much else to do, she decided watch the two in their preparations to make tea.

Garnet took note of Avery first.

' _He certainly has grown. Both physically and mentally.'_ Garnet noted.

Garnet chuckled to herself, remembering the Avery she met several years ago being much more lanky and spindly. His body has definitely evened out since that time.

Garnet's chuckle within her cerebrum died down, however, when she surveyed the mental side of the young man.

He seemed to be just as intelligent as he was when Garnet first met him, maybe even more so. Moreover, from the way Garnet had seen him acting throughout the evening, Avery seemed to have a somewhat more positive outlook in general.

' _That's always a plus.'_ Garnet thought.

Still, the tall gem couldn't help but be slightly worried at what Avery had said to her earlier.

'' _I wouldn't say I'm completely over it', huh? ... I'm going to have to keep watch of that.'_ Garnet pondered in a paranoid fashion.

To keep her mind off of the worried thoughts and several grotesque outcomes her future vision was providing, Garnet decided to focus upon Pearl at the current moment. And what she saw truly surprised her.

Pearl looked like she was having a pleasant time. It didn't appear she was just faking being happy (Garnet knew all too well that appearance) just to appease Avery either.

' _Well,'_ Garnet thought with a small smile. _'This is certainly a nice change of pace.'_

Garnet noted how well Pearl and Avery seemed to get along. They were both smiling and laughing, conversation flowing as easily as water would flow from a faucet.

She knew she was somewhat foolish to feel it, knowing the kind of person that Pearl was, but Garnet felt a bit of a fluttering in her… well, she couldn't say stomach because she didn't have one, but you get the picture.

' _Whatever happens, I just hope they end up being friends. I know they both need one."_

* * *

"Let's see… What kind of tea do you think Steven would like?" Avery asked Pearl.

"Steven is rather partial to sweet things, so the fruitiest one you have will do just fine." The slender gem answered, gathering and setting 5 coffee mugs into place.

"Very well." Avery rummaged around in his tea collection until he found a blend infused with blueberry and lemon. "What about Greg?"

"From what I remember of him he likes caffeine, anything with that he would probably like."

"I've got just the thing." Avery gave a look over his teas before he found one labeled 'Morning Thunder'.

"And Garnet?"

"Oh, she'll take just about anything. Surprise her." Pearl giggled slightly, Garnet's future vision on her mind. "If you can, that is."

"What do you mean?" Avery inquired.

"Oh, I take it you'll learn one of these days."

Avery looked at Pearl inquisitively for a moment before shrugging it off, putting his attention back to the tea.

"As for me," Pearl began. "I'll take green tea, if you have it."

"As you wish, Madame." Avery said in a jokingly formal voice whilst giving a half bow.

Pearl started to laugh slightly at that little display. Then suddenly, she thought:

' _I don't believe this. I'm… enjoying myself. With a human, no less.'_

Pearl was flabbergasted. She couldn't remember having this much fun in a conversation, let alone with a human. That last part in particular astonished the pale gem: She just assumed all humans were either A: Boring, B: Stupid, or C: an abominable combination of both.

' _Well, I suppose I shouldn't just jump to conclusions so fast. After all, there is always an exception to every rule… As much as I abhor that fact."_ Pearl thought with slight disgust. _"I despise rule breaking. Though…"_ Pearl looked to Avery, feeling a slight bond forming between them. _'I suppose for this one I could make an 'exception'.'_ Pearl pondered, chuckling at her own joke.

Avery must've noticed this chuckle, because soon after it he asked: "What's so funny?"

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing, I was just thinking of something." Pearl answered. "So tell me, what got you so interested in tea?"

"Well, to be quite honest with you, I wasn't the biggest fan when I was younger. However, my sister is a huge tea nut so in my family it was either 'conform or be cast out'." Avery said in a mock-ominous voice.

"Was that a Subdivisions reference?" Greg called from down the hall.

"You're amazing for getting that." Avery hollered back

"What is 'Subdivisions'?" Pearl asked.

"Oh, it's a song by the band Rush. You should check it out, it's a great piece."

"I see."

"Anyways, I have a question to ask you, if you don't mind."

"What might this question be?" Pearl inquired.

"Where exactly did you, Garnet, and Amethyst come from?"

Pearl paused for a moment, wondering how to word her next statement properly without giving too much away.

' _Should I let him in on our history? I don't know him all that well. Then again, I don't know why, but I already feel… something forming between us. Even though I'm not entirely sure what this 'something' is. … Okay, sure, why not?'_

Pearl peered out the window above the sink and looked skyward. The evening sun was dipping well below the horizon, painting the sky a deep indigo with orange surrounding its edges. Some stars had already appeared, shimmering like diamonds.

"Out there." Pearl finally answered, eyes still locked on the sky.

"'Out there' as in space?" Avery asked further.

"That's correct, yes."

"Wow…" said Avery, absolutely taken aback. He stood next to Pearl at her spot in front of the sink, his eyes upon the stars. "I've always been fascinated by space."

"Have you, now?"

"Of course, who wouldn't? All those fascinating things inside of a space far too infinite for any person to comprehend. I'm not going to lie to you, it's slightly terrifying, but wondrous at the same time. Plus…" Avery said, his eyes still star gazing. "It's downright beautiful."

Pearl smiled at her new friend. "I feel the same way. Albeit without the slight terror that you see in it."

Despite the good time she was having, Pearl couldn't help but frown. She stared out into the infinite, wishing she could somehow be there. Especially alongside Rose. Goodness, she missed her.

"Is something the matter?" Avery asked.

"Huh? Oh, It's nothing." She tried to brush off the question.

"No, it's obviously something, you seem upset." Avery pressed further. "Are you wanting to talk about it?"

And Pearl sighed deeply. "I just wish sometimes things could go back to the way they were. Just me, her, Garnet against space: Literal galaxies of possibilities at out fingertips."

"Who's this 'her'?" asked Avery.

Pearl felt the strong sensation to fight off tears. "Rose Quartz, our old leader. She's Steven's mother."

"Oh really? Then where is she…" Avery would've continued, if not for the fact that a small stream of tears was rolling down Pearl's cheek. Avery understood that reaction could only mean one thing.

"I'll be back in a second." Avery said whilst running out of the kitchen.

Hurrying back to the living room, he grabbed a box of tissues and announced to the others:

"Tea should be ready shortly."

Jogging back to the kitchen, he handed Pearl the tissues.

"I'm sorry. That was obviously a sensitive topic, I shouldn't have pried."

Pearl took a tissue out of the box and blew her pointy nose with it. "No, it's fine. You couldn't have known that. Besides, it's healthy to talk about it once in a while. I know I don't do that enough."

Upon Pearl saying that, a thought struck Avery.

"You know, Pearl, I understand that we don't know each other terribly well, but if you ever need somebody to talk to, I'm here for you. And before you say something along the lines of 'Oh, but you're a human, what could you understand', admittedly you do have a point. If you do decide to talk with me, there are likely going to be things I don't understand, but at least you're getting the thoughts out there. Like you said moments ago, it's healthy just to talk about these things."

A few moments after his monologue, Pearl turned to Avery with a warm and watery smile.

"Thank you so much. I'll give it some thought."

With that, the duo continued to make tea. After several minutes, it was ready to serve.

The next couple of hours were spent conversing, laughing, and just generally having a pleasant evening. That was until the tea finally got to Steven and he began to fall asleep. The Gems, Greg and (without much of a choice) Steven decided to head back once this happened.

The Crew started to head back towards Greg's van when Pearl lingered and turned to Avery who was on the porch. She said with absolute sincerity:

"If you're ever in the area, please stop by. We'd be happy to have you over."

Avery smiled. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

And with that, the two went their separate ways for the evening.

* * *

 **Good morrow, people of Fanfiction! Sorry that this chapter was a bit short, I just wanted to get it out there. Nothing much else to say except leave your reviews and tell me what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

3 hours and 47 minutes.

That's how long Avery had been trying to get a decent night's rest. Key emphasis on the word 'trying'.

No matter how hard Avery attempted to think otherwise, his brain would become plagued with thoughts that would be considered by any normal person beyond negative.

' _This is ridiculous.'_ Avery thought. _'You had a great time tonight with some wonderful people, what is there to feel so negative about?'_

Avery thought back to the many times when he was like this: What was it that triggered this state of mind? Usually, with him, it wasn't so much what **had** happened, but what **will** happen.

' _Okay, so then what's going on tomorrow? Let's see… I should probably head to the store to pick up some food and supplies. I also need to drop off that paperwork to Priyanka. What else is there? Oh, right, tomorrow is the first day I tutor Steven-'_

At this point in his thought process, Avery switched from recollection to obsession.

' _Oh god, what should I do? What if I'm not the best tutor, it was just luck that I remembered those trigonometric principles. There's always a chance Pearl has something even more difficult up her sleeve to teach, what if I can't teach if properly? Then I'd look like an idiot in front of my new friends. Lord knows they're probably going to be the only ones you get in this town, you antisocial prick-'_

Avery stopped his rapidly speeding train of thought, cringing at his own mental insult. He got out of bed, went a few doors down the hall and entered his restroom. Turning on the cold water from the sink, Avery pooled the running liquid into his hands and splashed it onto his face. The cold was bracing, but refreshing.

' _Alright.'_ Avery thought, taking deep and steady breaths to even out his heartrate. _'Have some confidence in yourself. And before you go and say there's no reason to have any of that, brain, just listen: Pearl picked you because she thought you were A: intelligent and B: a good influence on a developing young mind. Those are both things to be proud about, wouldn't you say?'_

* * *

His brain could find no snide or cruel remark to that.

' _That's what I thought.'_

With that, Avery decided that this could be chalked up as an exercise (considering how exhausted he felt after it) and decided to head back to his bed to hopefully get the respite he so utterly deserved. It took an extra half an hour, but eventually he did.

While most people would disagree with him, Avery thought it was a beautiful day.

It was raining, somewhere between a downpour and a drizzle, the sky above grey as ash with no sign of blue anywhere near the immediate area.

' _Just the way I like it.'_ Avery thought as he stepped from out of his car, opening his umbrella to protect himself from the oncoming torrent of water.

Avery had just delivered his paperwork to Priyanka, and was on his way to the store to pick up some goods. He was about to walk in the front doors when he saw a familiar slender figure out of the side of his vision, struggling to balance some bags whilst holding an umbrella.

"Oh, Pearl!" Avery called out to the gem.

Pearl looked up and smiled upon seeing Avery, happy to see somebody who could help her.

"Ah, hello Avery. Say, would I be asking too much if I said 'could you help me with these'?" She asked with a slight nervous chuckle.

"Not at all, I'd be happy to help." Avery said, grabbing most of the bags from Pearl. "Let's see, how far is your house from here?"

"It's a pretty decent walk away." Pearl said, starting to see the fault in her plan.

"Not to worry, we can just use my car."

"Thank you so much." Stated Pearl, voice dripping with gratitude.

As the duo headed towards Avery's automobile, Pearl couldn't help but notice the small smile playing at his lips and the refreshed spring in his step.

"You seem to be in a good mood." The gem said, her own lips forming a smile seeing the man beside her so happy. "What's put you in this state?"

"Oh, I'm just a big fan of the rain."

"Is that so?" said Pearl, surprised at Avery's response.

"What, is it that surprising to you that somebody actually likes rain?" Avery said with a slight laugh.

"Well, I suppose not, I myself just don't care much for rain. The way I see it, it puts quite a damper on productivity, forcing you to stay inside for the most part."

"I can definitely see where you're coming from. However, the rain always makes me feel cozy. Maybe it's because of the good memories I have with it, or possibly it's due to me being a very introverted person and thus I spend most of my free time inside. Regardless, rain just gives me a good feeling."

Avery turned to Pearl to see her staring and smiling at him. For whatever reason, it was starting to make Avery feel very vulnerable.

"I-Is something the matter?" He asked, a blush starting to dust his cheeks.

"Oh, nothing's the matter. I just like it when you're happy. I don't know why, but for whatever reason it's… infectious, I guess would be the right word."

Pearl must have noticed Avery's blush, because then she proceeded to ask:

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm feeling fine. I'm just not very used to a beautiful woman like yourself staring at me like that."

At this statement, it was Pearl's turn to blush.

"O-oh. I see." Pearl stuttered out, trying to keep a neutral face.

"I'm sorry if what I said made you feel at all uncomfortable." Avery said, wanting to cover his tracks after he realized what he had just said.

"No, it's perfectly fine," said Pearl "I'm just not very used to people calling me beautiful."

"Really? I find that hard to believe."

"How so?" Pearl asked.

' _Well,'_ thought Avery _'I already tested the waters, might as well dive in.'_

"Pearl, C'mon: You're beyond beautiful, anyone who isn't blind could tell you that. Not only that, but from what I've seen of you you're extremely intelligent and beyond caring. Also, and this is just a small thing: You protect a city using your magical powers. Pearl, in the modern using of an old fashioned word: you're a goddess."

At this point in time, Pearl's usually pale complexion was replace mostly by the color teal.

"Again," Avery started "I'm sorry if that made you feel-"

"No, no, no," Pearl interrupted "Its fine. Thank you, actually, I needed to hear that." she added with a smile. "To be honest with you, I wasn't having the best day."

"Really?' Avery questioned. "I'm sorry to hear that. What's making that so?"

"Well, like I said, I don't care much for rain, so that isn't helping matters. Secondly, Amethyst is being as argumentative as ever. Also, recently I can't help but still feel so guilty over…"

"Over what?" Avery asked, his intrigue piqued.

Pearl was going to say over tricking Garnet into fusing with her. She knew that Garnet had forgiven her, but she still hadn't necessarily forgiven herself. Pearl thought for a moment on whether or not she should tell Avery, and at last decided that she would keep this to herself for the time being.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm at a place where I can be comfortable in sharing this. I hope that doesn't bother you."

"Of course not." Avery said politely. "I wouldn't at all want to make you feel… well, I take it you know what I'm about to say."

Pearl gave a small laugh at that statement. Soon after, however, her face morphed into one of worry.

"I take it that wasn't all there is to your day?" Avery inquired.

"Sadly, that's true. I don't know why, but Steven's been acting… strange since yesterday."

"Strange? Strange how?"

"Well, he hasn't been eating as much as he usually does, he's been much more quiet, and most of his free-time he's spent staring at our portrait of Rose."

"Hmmm… I see." Avery said, a pensive hand on his chin. "Tell me, has there been a time where you've mentioned Rose Quartz in conversation since yesterday."

"No, the most recent time I've mentioned Rose anywhere near Steven was when we were making tea yesterday."

"Let's see… the door to the kitchen wasn't too far from the living room. Do you think maybe he heard you talking about Rose when you were crying?"

Pearl eyes widened as she came to a realization.

"Oh no, Steven might think this is another scabbard incident."

"Scabbard incident? What does that mean?"

Pearl looked down to the concrete below, her expression exponentially saddened.

"A while ago, Steven discovered something I didn't know about Rose which was related to her sword's scabbard. As a result, I had what you humans would call a 'meltdown' and said some things to Steven that I'm not necessarily proud of."

"I observe." Said Avery. "This all sounds very confusing for the both of you."

Pearl sighed deeply. "It really is."

The two stood in silence for several moments. Avery was thinking of was he could assist in Pearl's problem, when a thought struck him.

"You know, when I'm done tutoring Steven this afternoon, I'd be happy to stay back for a while and talk to him."

Pearl looked to Avery questioningly.

"Are you sure that would help Steven?" She asked.

"Positive. Look, I'm a therapist, talking to people about their problems is my livelihood, you should trust that I at least know what I'm doing. Besides, when I've dealt with instances like these with former clients, I know that most of the time, while they do appreciate the familiarity of a loved one talking to them," Avery gestured to Pearl "In this case you, they would prefer to have a neutral viewpoint on matters such as these."

Pearl looked upwards in thought for a while, until finally she said:

"Okay. I'm trusting you."

Avery smiled. "I thank you for your trust. You can count on me."

Pearl grinned back at the man before her. "I know I can."

With that, the two walked the remaining distance to Avery's car, loaded in Pearl's groceries and started to drive towards the beach house.

"So," Avery started "I see you've got quite a few groceries there. Since you and Garnet don't really eat, how much food can Steven and Amethyst need?" he said with a small chuckle.

"Believe me, more than you would think." Pearl said in an exasperated tone. "Between you and me, I will never understand eating for recreation."

"Well, a lot of the time when humans are bored we turn to food because it gives us something to focus on. It may not be as substantial of an experience as watching a movie or listening to a Pink Floyd album, but eating is an experience nonetheless."

Pearl turned to Avery confusedly. "What's 'Pink Floyd'?"

"What!?" Avery turned to the passenger's seat, shocked that Pearl hadn't at least heard of his favorite band. "Come now, in all your years of living you must have at least heard the name Pink Floyd."

"Maybe once in a passing conversation with Greg, but I don't really bother listening to human music."

"Oh, Pearl," Avery looked to his friend. It was difficult to tell whether the sadness on his face was real or a jest. "You poor child."

"Child!? Do you know how old I really am?"

Avery chuckled "I do, that was supposed to be the joke."

"Oh." Pearl said. "I see. Well, regardless, why do you get so up in arms when somebody hasn't 'played this' or 'listened to that'?"

"Are you kidding me?" At this point in time Avery went on to explain in detail how "Art was of the highest importance to him" and how "Experiences outweigh most other things in life because that's all life really is". Pearl wasn't paying too much attention to what he was saying, however. What she was really paying attention to was the smile painted on Avery's face and the jubilant tone in his voice from talking about some of his favorite things.

' _He reminds me of Steven when he gets like this.'_ Pearl thought.

Avery turned to see Pearl staring at him much like she was several minutes ago in the parking lot. That vulnerable feeling started to creep up inside of him again.

"Pearl? You're uh… staring at me again."

Pearl's face shifted to one of surprise, and then to one of embarrassment.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I hope I didn't make you feel-"

"Uncomfortable?" Avery finished Pearl's sentence with a smug grin on his face. "Not at all."

The two continued to converse about several different topics before they got to the beach house.

"Are you sure you don't need help carrying those in?" Avery said, referring the bags in the car's trunk.

"Trust me, I'll be fine."

"If you say so"

Pearl gathered her groceries and was about to head into the beach house, but before she did so she turned to Avery and said:

"Thank you so much for your help today! You made my day much better."

"Of course. I had a swell time with you today. I hope to see you in a couple hours."

"You as well."

And with that, Avery drove off. When he did so, he looked in the rearview mirror to look at Pearl for a bit longer.

' _She's something else, that woman.'_

* * *

 **Good morrow, people of Fanfiction! Nothing much to say with this chapter, I just hoped you liked the banter between Avery and Pearl. Leave your review to tell me what I can improve!**


	8. Chapter 8

Avery could see where Pearl was coming from during their talk earlier: Steven did seem distant.

Having come to the beach house around half an hour ago to begin Steven's tutoring, Avery was at first greeted with the usual exuberance he expected from Steven. However, as soon as the actual tutoring began, that happiness dissipated rather quickly.

Steven's focus as well seemed to have died down. Well, maybe that wasn't entirely true, as his focus did appear rather strong, just not for the tasks he and Avery were covering. No, his focus instead was on the portrait that Avery could only assume was Rose Quartz.

Feeling slightly troubled for Steven and also wanted to keep his promise to Pearl from earlier, Avery began to prod for an answer to Steven's unusual behavior.

"You seem not yourself, Steven." Avery started "Is something wrong?"

Steven's focus still intently on the portrait, he didn't answer to Avery's inquiry at first. As such, the young man tried to address Steven once more.

"Steven…?"

Suddenly, Steven asked Avery:

"You have a mom, right?"

And now it was Avery's turn to be distant, as he could feel something he buried deep within his psyche come up front and center. The bitterness, the confusion, the anger and sadness, everything came flooding back to Avery all at once. He suppose he couldn't blame Steven, however, for this rush of emotion.

Avery must've been silent for some time after Steven asked his question, so the boy decided to ask it once more.

"Well? Do you?"

"Admittedly I used to, but not anymore. She died in a car wreck."

"Oh." Steven's face shifted to one of guilt. "I'm sorry for bringing that up. Now I feel bad." He replied sadly.

"Hey, there's no reason to feel bad." Avery said comfortingly. "Your question was a valid one and there was no way you could've have known what happened to my mom."

"Still…" Steven said, looking down to the floor.

"Look, would you mind if we changed the subject slightly?"

"Okay."

"Alright, then let me ask you this: What made you want to ask your question in the first place?"

Steven looked to the floor once more before facing Avery. "Can you keep a secret from Pearl?"

Avery looked to Steven questioningly. "That depends on what you want me to keep from her."

Steven's face returned to its previous guilty state. "Yesterday I eavesdropped on you and Pearl talking."

"Oh, that's it? I already knew about that."

Steven looked surprised. "You did?"

"Steven, from where me and Pearl were talking I'm guessing it would have been difficult not to eavesdrop. That's nothing to feel guilty about."

"Okay, if you say so." Steven looked very much relieved.

"Still," Avery said, back to business. "What made you want to eavesdrop?"

"Well… I just heard you guys talking about my mom, so I guess I was just curious about what Pearl would say. When she started crying, I guess I just assumed the worst."

"I see. Well, it's obvious that Pearl cared much for your mother, so I'm guessing any mention of her around Pearl might have… adverse effects."

"Anyways, ever since yesterday my head's been filled with all kinda thoughts about my mom."

"Thoughts like?"

Steven looked hesitant. Whatever he was going to say, it didn't seem like an easy topic to converse about.

"… Should I feel bad that I don't really feel sad about my mom being gone?"

"Ah." Avery said. "Is there any chance you could give me more details about how you're feeling about this in particular?"

"It's just that, well, I know my mom was this great person, the gems talk about her like that all the time. I'm guessing she would have made a great mom too, but… how can I be sad about her being gone if I never knew her?"

"I see." Avery looked to Steven sympathetically. He could somewhat relate to Steven's plight. "That sounds like it must be very confusing to deal with."

"It is."

"Well, just keep this in mind: People deal with death in very different ways. Your life is filled with many strange and peculiar things, it's only natural to feel more confused than anything when dealing with something as complicated as this."

"Hmmm…" Steven still looked as pensive as ever.

"Is something else on your mind?" Avery asked.

"A couple things, yeah."

"Would you like to talk about them?

"… I'd like that, yeah."

"Very well. What else would you like to talk about?" Avery said. "I'm listening." He added with a warm smile.

And so, Steven and Avery spent the next hour talking about the several things that were swirling around the boy's head. These included Steven feeling inadequate compared to his mother and him not really knowing what he is due to him being a gem-human hybrid. Surprisingly, despite the complexity of these subjects Steven was posing him with, Avery was able to answer most of them with skill and swiftness. This put Steven at great ease, and soon enough the two's conversation shifted into lighthearted joking and laughing.

However, unaware of this happening, the two were being listened in on. In her room, ear pressed against her door, Pearl was listening to see what was on Steven's mind.

' _Oh, Steven.'_ She thought. _'I knew you were dealing with some confusing thoughts, but I didn't know they were this complex.'_

Deciding to split the task of comforting Steven with Avery, Pearl stepped out of her room and into the living room.

"Oh, hi Pearl! What's up-"Steven was quickly silenced by a hug from the pale gem.

"I'm sorry if I made you think those confusing thoughts." She apologized whilst stroking Steven's hair, tears forming in her eyes. "And for the record I don't care what you do or how you feel: You'll always be wonderful in my eyes. In all of ours."

At this point in time, Steven began to hug back Pearl with great intensity. All the while, Avery was smiling at the boy and his surrogate mother's show of affection.

"Its okay, Pearl. You don't need to cry." Steven said.

"I'm sorry." Pearl said with a small chuckle. "You know how emotional I can be."

"I know." Said Steven, looking up and smiling at Pearl. The slender Gem smiled back.

"Well," Avery started "I think I'll give you two some privacy. Thanks for having me over, hopefully I was of help."

"Wait!" Pearl called out.

"Yes?" Asked Avery.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Pearl inquired "I was just about to prepare it."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh, pishposh, you'd be imposing nothing. Besides, I have to pay you back somehow for helping me earlier today."

"Yeah, C'mon Avery!" Steven exclaimed. "You'd be missing out: Pearl's a great cook!"

Avery smiled, delighted at his friends' hospitality.

"Well, how can I say no to that offer?"

"Alright!" Steven said.

Steven began to then list off the thigs they could do while eating. Avery was listening interestedly, trying to appease the boy, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Said tapping was being performed by Pearl.

"Is there any chance I could talk with you outside?" She asked.

"Of course." Replied Avery.

"Thank you."

Pearl then proceeded to lead Avery out to the house's deck overlooking the sea. It had stopped raining, so there was no need for an umbrella of any sort.

"I hope you don't mind, but I listened in on you and Steven talking."

"I don't mind at all, in fact I was expecting you to do so."

"Very well. Regardless, I couldn't help but noticed how well you handled Steven's problems."

"Well, like I told you, what I did in there was essentially what I do on a daily basis for my job."

"Exactly. Which is why I'd like to take you up on your offer."

Avery's thoughts recollected back to yesterday's conversation with Pearl.

"You mean when I said 'If you ever want someone to talk to, I'm here for you'?"

"That's correct." Pearl replied whilst rubbing a hand on her gem. "I just have so many things churning around in my head sometimes and it feels like I can't express them. But with you, I don't know why, but for some reason I feel like I can talk with you completely honestly."

"So, essentially what you're saying is that you want me to become your therapist?"

"Yes." Pearl answered with the upmost sincerity.

At this, Avery began to chuckle.

"What's funny?" Pearl asked.

"Oh, nothing in particular, I just find it interesting that you want to handle this in such a professional manner."

"What do you mean?"

"Pearl, I'd like to think that I'm your friend. As such, I'm at your beck and call, whenever you need me."

"You mean that?" Pearl inquired.

"Of course." Avery answered.

Suddenly, Pearl pulled Avery into a hug.

"Thank you."

After saying such, she pulled away.

"D-don't mention it." Avery attempted to say, trying to hear himself over the pounding of his heart he could hear in his ears.

"Now, what say I get you and Steven some dinner ready?"

"Oh, I'll come help."

"That would be lovely, thank you."

With that, Pearl headed back inside.

Avery was about to follow suit, but something occurred to him. What this 'something' was strangely enough, was Pearl herself. Avery didn't know why, but he couldn't help but notice things that he hadn't taken to much mind to before. These being things such as the elegance of her form, the beautiful paleness of her skin, and the deep blueness of her eyes.

' _Huh.'_ Avery thought. _'Strange.'_

Shrugging it off, hoping it was just a spur of the moment thought after the hug Pearl had given him, Avery went back inside to help with the dinner preparations.

However, Avery couldn't just shrug it off.

' _I wonder… could this mean anything?'_

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction. My apologies if this chapter seemed at all rushed, I just wanted to get it out there. Nothing much else to say except leave your reviews to tell me what I can improve!**


	9. Chapter 9

"Thank you so much for such a lovely evening!" Avery said as he was walking out of the door to the beach house.

"Of course. It was a pleasure to have you over." Pearl said with a smile on her face.

"Feel free to come by whenever you want to hang." Said Steven. "We can watch more Crying Breakfast Friends when you do!"

"O-oh, yes… right." Avery said whilst trying to keep a neutral face.

He didn't want to make Steven feel bad, but he found the program he had shown him to be downright laughably bad. He knew Pearl felt the same way, as on the odd occasion when he and the gem locked eyes, they were filled with noticeable traces of sympathy for having to view the show. Still, Avery did have legitimate fun with Pearl and Steven, and the meal Pearl had prepared was simple, but delicious.

"Anyways, have a good night!" Avery said.

"You as well!" Pearl and Steven called our simultaneously.

With that Avery walked out into the cool evening air.

Looking skyward, Avery noticed many of the day's clouds had dissipated by now, the ones remaining being colored a misty purple-pink (the current shade of the sky) by the sun dropping below the sea.

' _God, that's beautiful.'_ Avery thought. _'Mr. Sun, you can be quite the painter sometimes.'_

As Avery began to walk back towards his car, Avery couldn't help but think back to those times Pearl and he had made eye contact earlier. He wouldn't like to admit it, but whenever that happened his heart began to beat much faster when it happened. The depth and beauty of the elegant gem's eyes was hard not to notice, and Avery wished he could stare into them longer before she turned away…

' _Stop it.'_ The logical side of Avery's brain began to scold. _'She may be your friend, but you barely know her.'_

True enough. Avery had only known Pearl for, what, three or four days? It was silly to think that he would have such strong feelings for somebody he was only just getting to know.

But yet somehow, to another side of Avery's brain… It didn't seem silly at all.

Avery didn't like to think of himself as anything close to a hopeless romantic, but he still would like to think that you could become attached to a person after a small window of time.

' _Maybe,'_ the logical side spoke again. _'But you've also never been in a romantic relationship in your entire life. What makes you think you know what to do in a situation like this?"_

Another fair point. Avery had been far too busy with his schooling as well as sorting out his emotional problems to even think about something even close to a romantic relationship. Sure, he had a crush or two, but they came as fast as they went. Maybe that's all Pearl was: A crush.

' _No, I don't think that's it.'_ The other side began to argue.

To label Pearl as only 'a crush' seemed somewhat preposterous to Avery. Regardless of whether it was the spark of something romantic or not, Avery could feel some kind of special bond forming between him and Pearl. After all, why else would somebody who's obviously not the biggest fan of humans be A: Sincerely happy to spend time and talk with one, and B: Willing to share thoughts that she very likely hasn't shared with anyone else with one?

' _True, but on the other hand-'_ His logical side started to reason.

' _Screw the other hand!'_ The other side shouted back.

Suddenly, Avery's brain was caught in the crossfire of two sides that both seemed right. Whenever one posed a convincing argument, the other shot right back with one just as sound.

' _Argh!'_ Avery thought with annoyance at his brain's feud. _'I need someone to talk to, I can't let this stew in my head.'_

Trouble was with that want was that there didn't seem to be much of anyone on hand Avery could talk to. Pearl, as much as he would like to talk to her, was out of the question given to topic he was wanting to converse about. Garnet seemed like a logical choice given her and Avery's history, but she didn't know where the tall gem was. And Priyanka, while she would also be a sound option given her role as a friendly boss, was likely busy at this hour and Avery didn't want to interrupt anything important with something as trivial as this.

Luckily, help was closer to Avery than he thought. Quite literally, as it was standing across the street washing the sidewalk with a hose, listening to whatever music was blaring through his headphones.

' _Greg, of course! Maybe he can offer some advice.'_

Avery began to walk towards 'It's a Wash', the neon sign illuminating where Greg had just sprayed his hose.

"Hey, Greg!" Avery called out whilst waving to the portly individual.

Greg's face turned blank for a moment, noticing the disturbance of sound. Turning to where the disturbance had emanated, his blank face was replaced with his trademark smile upon seeing who had called him.

"Heya, Avery! What can I do for ya?"

"Oh nothing much, I was just… wondering if you wanted to talk?" Avery petered out, realizing the flimsiness of his offer.

Luckily, flimsy was all Greg needed if ever he wanted to help.

"Sure thing!"

"You can finish your work, I'd be more than willing to wait." Avery said.

"No need, I was just doing the finishing touches." Greg said as he shut off his hose. "So, what's up?"

"Uh, well… say is there any chance we could go inside and talk?" Avery questioned. "I feel somewhat vulnerable out here in the open."

"Ah, so it's a private matter?" Greg inquired.

"Well, somewhat. I'll go into the details in a bit."

"Okay. C'mon, hop in." Greg said as he jerked his head towards his van.

Stepping into the passenger side and settling himself in his seat, Avery noted several things about the interior of Greg's van. One was a cot and some pillows laid out in the floor of the back end.

' _Oh, he lives here. That's… pretty sad.'_

The second item of interest to Avery was a guitar with well-worn chords propped up against the one of the van's corners. Avery couldn't help but smile seeing this, the item reminding him of his father.

As Greg stepped in the driver's side seat, Avery began their conversation with:

"Nice six-string."

"Hey, thanks!" Greg beamed. "Do you play?"

"Eh, I only know one song and I'm not very good at it. My dad is the one in my family who's the real player."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, he's really into folk music so he picked up the guitar when he was pretty young. He can play really damn well, too. I'm surprised he didn't make a career out of it."

Upon Avery finishing his statement, Greg smile sadly.

"I'm sorry, did I upset you?" Avery asked, his face becoming suddenly worried.

"Oh no, it's fine." Greg reassured. "I just find it funny you said what you did about your pops and his music because I used to be a musician."

"Is that so? Why did you give it up?"

"Eh, life just happened. You sometimes just gotta look around and get your priorities straight." Greg said somewhat somberly "Having a son can do that." He added with a chuckle. "But hey, we're not here to talk about me. What's the issue?"

"Well…" Avery hesitated. He just realized he was talking to a person who was in love with a gem. This could work out better than Avery intended! Still, he couldn't help but feel he was blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

"It's somewhat silly," Avery continued. "I probably shouldn't even bother you with it."

"Oh, C'mon, I'm happy to listen!"

Before Avery could respond, Greg asked while pointing at the radio:

"Hey, you mind if I put on some tunes?"

"Not at all, go ahead."

And so, at Avery's go ahead, Greg fiddled with the radio's knobs until a soft hum of classic rock was drifting through the van's air.

"Anyways," Avery started. "I have a question to pose to you."

"Shoot." Said Greg.

Avery took a deep breath. He didn't know why he was so nervous. Regardless of his jitteriness, Avery pressed onward.

"Hypothetically, say there's this guy and this girl. Now, the guy just met this girl a couple days ago, but he feels like there's already a special connection between him and the girl. He also thinks that the girl feels this as well. However, then the guy starts to feel that his feelings towards her are more than platonic. At the same time, he doesn't want to scare her off by just proclaiming something that monumental out of the blue, He doesn't want to sever the connection he's feeling with her. What should this guy do about these feelings?

Avery looked to Greg. To say the man's look was smug was the understatement of the century.

"I don't know, that depends…" Greg said in a knowing manner. "… Who's the girl?"

Avery sighed deeply. "I was that obvious, huh?"

"Pretty much. So, c'mon, who's the girl? Tell me!" Greg exclaimed, bouncing up and down (which as a result shook the van) like a child.

Avery ran his fingers though his hair several times out of nervousness. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke:

"… Pearl."

Greg stopped bouncing, his face turning into one of bafflement.

"You serious?"

Avery nodded in agreement.

"Wow… That's pretty heavy, man."

"Which is why I wanted to talk to you. You've obviously know Pearl for quite some time, what do you think I should do?"

"Well…" Greg said while scratching the back of his head. "I'm not sure where you should start. I mean for one, Pearl doesn't really like humans."

"I know that, but at the same time I feel that she at least… tolerates me. Every time I've seen her over the past couple of days she seemed genuinely happy to have my company. Plus, she trusted me enough to divulge some things about her past that were obviously painful for her."

"She did? What kind of things?"

"Mainly how she misses Space and, well… Rose."

Greg sighed, his face notably saddened.

"Oh, Pearl. Well, I'm just glad she's gonna talk to you about these things. I worry about her, sometimes."

"Your worry is well in place, Pearl seems to have quite a bit of baggage on her hands."

"Right. Maybe because of that you should wait to tell her how you feel."

"That's what I was thinking." Avery said

"Don't get me wrong, you should definitely tell her eventually. I mean, heck, if I was in your shoes I'd probably just proclaim it as soon as possible being the klutz I am." Greg said while laughing. "Though, you don't seem to be that kind of person." He added.

"I suppose you have a point." Said Avery with a smile. A moment later, however, that smile morphed into a face of slight disappointment. Greg must have noticed, because soon he asked:

"You feelin' okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, I suppose so. It's just that… I mean I completely agree with you about waiting to tell her my feelings. Hell, I'm not even sure that in a week or so I'll still have these feelings. Yet for whatever reason, I'm driving myself crazy over somebody I hardly know. Because of that, some stupid part of me just wants to put all my chips on the table and tell her outright." Avery looked to Greg. "Is that strange?"

Greg smiled at Avery in a fatherly fashion. "Of course not. I felt the same way when I first met Rose. However, much like me and her, I think waiting will make things a lot smoother in the long run."

"Of course." Avery smiled at Greg appreciatively. "Thanks for talking with me."

"Don't mention it!"

After that being said, the two sat in a comfortable silence for some time. Avery was about to say something to Greg, but he quickly forgot about it as he heard a sound all too familiar to him coming from the radio. That sound being the chords to a song Avery hadn't listened too in ages.

"Would you mind turning the radio up?" Avery asked Greg.

"Oh, sure."

Greg turned a knob in a clockwise direction. Soon after, the opening lyrics to the song rang clearly in the air:

" _ **And then the past recedes**_ _ **  
**_ _ **and I won't be involved.**_ _ **  
**_ _ **The effort to be free**_ _ **  
**_ _ **seems pointless from above."**_

Greg began to nod his head and smile, apparently getting into the song.

"I like the guitar on this." He said. "You know what song this is?"

"It's called The Past Recedes by John Frusciante." Avery responded, though his mind was elsewhere at the moment.

Part of Avery wanted to marvel at how such an obscure song was getting radio play, but that wasn't his main concern. No, Avery's main concern at the current moment was the torrential flood of memories that came rushing in his mind. Nights spent cramming for a test, laughing a playing games, long walks around his old neighborhood. All of which he was accompanied by a bespectacled figure of tall stature with spikey brown hair.

"Kyle…" Avery croaked out quietly.

"What's that?" Greg asked.

He got no answer, though. Avery was too preoccupied with listening to the song. The duo slipped back into a state of quiet, simply enjoying the song and each other's company. Eventually, though, the song ended. Greg broke the silence by saying:

"Looks like you and that song have some history."

"How could you tell?" Avery asked.

"Well, for one, you're crying."

Avery flinched and felt towards his eyes. They were moist.

"I'm sorry." Avery apologized. "That was just my best friend's favorite song. He passed away not too long ago."

"Oh." Greg's face suddenly turned sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that. What happened to him?"

Avery visibly cringed. That question brought up images of a crushed white substance and needles.

"I'd rather not talk about that."

"Okay." Greg put his hand on Avery's back. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

"It's alright, it was a valid question."

"Why don't you head home? You look like you could use some rest."

"Good idea. Goodbye, Greg. Many thanks for hearing me out."

"Of course. If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop by. I'd be happy to talk to you and give your car a wash!"

"Duly noted." With that, Avery stepped out of the van and headed back towards his own vehicle.

Peering up to the sky, Avery saw that the sky had considerably darkened, leaving only a faint halo of purplish-pink on the horizon. Because of the newly settled darkness, however, many stars were visible in the night sky. Avery stared into them, wondering what weird and wonderful things could be out there among the giant flaming balls in the infinite void.

With this thought in mind, Avery looked towards the beach house, thinking of all those things about Pearl and thought quietly aloud:

"It's easy to see why you feel in love with the heavens, Pearl. What isn't simple, however, Is how I've grown to love you… If this even is love."

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! I'm not sure what makes this so, but I was really happy with how this chapter turned out. Then again, my opinion means nothing compared to you, readers. Tell me what you think with a review! Until next time, take care!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay Steven," said Avery, pointing at the paper before him and the boy. "Because of the structure of this sentence, what use of 'there' would you need to put in the blank?"

Steven sat across from Avery, scratching his head. Avery had been tutoring Steven for around two weeks at this point in time, and Pearl had wanted the both of them to start going over English next. Because of this, Avery figured he'd start out with some basic fill-in-the-blank questions.

"Hmmm… would it be… t-h-e-i-r?" Steven asked.

"That's correct! Good work!" Avery exclaimed.

"I am the English master!" Steven proclaimed, his arms raised skyward.

"Don't get cocky just yet." Avery said, smiling despite himself. "This is just simple stuff, things are going to get much more complex as we go on."

"I know, but can't I at least be happy for getting it right?" Steven questioned.

"I never said you couldn't be happy," Avery started in a semi-defensive tone. "I'm just saying don't get too ahead of yourself."

"If you say so."

Avery looked to his watch. An hour had passed since the tutoring had begun, the usual allotted time for the two of them.

"Wow, time certainly flies." Avery said. "Well, I think that's enough for today, Steven." He continued as he began to stand up.

"Okay." Steven said. "Hey, if you have some time to kill, you wanna stick around? We can watch Crying Breakfast Friends like last time!"

"Actually," Avery said, cutting off Steven. "I have my own show I want to introduce you to." He explained with a smile on his face.

"Really!?" Steven asked excitedly. "What is it?"

"Before I show it to you, I need to ask you: Are you ready to experience one the greatest adventures put on television?" Avery inquired in an overly dramatic tone.

Steven's eyes transformed into their trademarked starry look, the biggest smile Avery had ever seen plastered on his face. "You know I am!"

"Then let me be the first to introduce you…" Avery paused, reaching into his jacket pocket. "To this!"

Avery pulled out what seemed to be a DVD case. On the front there stood a man leaning back in what appeared to be space.

"Cowboy Bebop." Steven read the title in wonderment as he took the case from Avery. "What's this about?"

"Space bounty hunters."

"WHAT ARE WE DOING, WAITING AROUND HERE FOR!?" Steven shouted, nearly knocking Avery off of his feet. Apparently 'Space Bounty Hunters' was a happiness trigger for the boy. "LET"S GET WATCHING!"

"I couldn't agree with you more!" Avery complied.

The two were about to rush up to Steven's room, but suddenly Steven stopped and said:

"Wait!"

"What?" Avery asked.

"We can't watch something like this without popcorn."

"Hm. I suppose you have a point." Avery admitted.

"I'll get to making it!" Steven exclaimed, going over to the kitchen and rummaging around in the cupboards.

As Avery took a seat on the couch, waiting for the popcorn to be made, a question was posed to him by Steven:

"So, not sure if I asked you this before, but what made you want to move here?"

"You actually asked me this the day we met. It was for a job acceptance, remember?"

"I know that part. I mean did you move here for any emotional reason?"

Avery thought back upon his reasons for moving to Beach City. He couldn't lie and say no to Steven, as there were plenty of emotional reasons for moving here. However, Avery wasn't sure if he was necessarily ready to share them with anybody, let alone somebody as young as Steven.

"Oh, I had just lived in a big city for a while and I wanted to get away from all the hustle and bustle." Avery said. It wasn't a lie, per se, but it also wasn't the whole truth as well.

"I see." Steven said. He was about to continue on, but his last statement was punctuated by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" the boy said. Upon opening the door, he revealed a girl around his height with brown hair and dark skin.

"Oh, hey Connie! What are you doing here so early?"

"Hi, Steven! Well, I figured I'd come to hand out for a bit before practice. That is, if you have the time."

"I always have time for you!"

"Great!" Connie said, walking inside. "Oh. Who might this be?" She asked while looking at Avery.

"Oh, this is Avery. He's that tutor I've told you about."

"I see." Connie said, walking up to Avery and holding out her hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Avery. I'm Connie Maheswaran."

Avery crouched down to Connie's height and took her hand in his. "Pleasure to meet you as well." He said, surprised at the girl's formality. Avery also realized something strikingly familiar about the girl, both in appearance and name.

"Oh." Avery said aloud, now realizing the similarities. "You must be Priyanka's daughter."

"How do you know my mom?" Connie asked.

"I work under her. I'm the new director of mental health over at the hospital."

"Ah, so you must be the Avery she talks about sometimes."

"She talks about me at your home?" Avery said, surprised to hear such a tidbit.

"Yeah. Needless to say, she isn't impressed with your work." Connie said.

Avery suddenly became very worried. "She isn't!? What is it that I'm doing wrong?"

Connie then started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Avery asked her.

"I was only joking. She's more than happy with your work."

"Oh… I suddenly feel very stupid."

The three of them had a good laugh at that statement.

"So," Connie started. "What are you guys doing?"

"We were just about to watch this apparently super awesome show that Avery likes." Steven said with excitement.

"What show might that be?" Connie questioned whilst turning to Avery again.

"Cowboy Bebop." He said "Ever heard of it?"

"I have, actually. My dad watched it when he was younger."

"Your father has good taste." Avery said with a slight chuckle.

"Would you mind if I watched it with you two?"

"Not at all. The more, the merrier!" Avery said.

With that said, Steven put the finishing touches on the popcorn and the three huddled around the TV in Steven's room.

"Oh, just a warning to the both of you: I hope you like jazz." Avery said, smiling with anticipation due to his favorite show about to play."

"I like jazz!" Connie said.

"I, uh, don't really listen to it." Said Steven.

"Trust me, you're going to love it by the end of this series." Avery said, preparing the remote control for the DVD player. "Well: Here we go!"

And thus, Avery pressed play.

* * *

"Well… It certainly is large." Said Pearl, slightly intimidated.

What Pearl was referring to was a gigantic pillar in the middle of the mountains. Set atop said pillar was an even larger spherical shaped thing covered in what appeared to be various different colored hexagonal gems. Those gems were currently firing out large bursts of energy, letting them loose mainly towards the sky. A few stray ones, however, were flying off into multiple different directions.

"If we don't destroy the protective casings to those gems and bubble them quickly, those blasts might head towards civilization." Garnet said. "We can't allow that to happen."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Amethyst said while brandishing her whip. "Let's go!"

"No." Garnet interjected calmly. "This is a problem too big for just the three of us. We need to fuse."

"I agree." Said Pearl. "Even though she is a bit reckless, Sugilite does seem like the best option for this occasion."

"That works for me!" Amethyst said excitedly.

"Actually," Garnet started, turning to Pearl. "We need a more methodical approach for this. I think Sardonyx would be more appropriate."

"Wait, what!?" Amethyst screamed questioningly.

Pearl was hesitant, surprised at Garnet's offer.

"Are… are you sure?"

Garnet smiled reassuringly and reached out her hand, preparing for fusion. "Yes. I am."

Pearl shyly inched closer to Garnet, her hand slowly reaching out to the taller gem's. At the last moment, however, Pearl's hand flinched and she retreated back several steps.

"I'm just not sure I'm ready after… you know…" Pearl said nervously, thinking back to the Sardonyx fiasco.

Garnet sighed deeply. "Pearl, you know I've forgiven you for all of that."

"You have, but I don't think I have just yet."

"Pearl, I understand, but you need to get over this one way or another. What if Steven's in danger and we need Sardonyx? We can't always just turn into Sugilite whenever something like this arises." Garnet said.

"As much as I don't wanna agree with her, Garnet's right." Amethyst said. "C'mon, P, you can't let guilt make every decision for you." She added with genuine worry.

Pearl consider what both her long-time friends had said, and hated to admit that they were both right. Still, she couldn't help but let guilt infect her conscience.

"I'm sorry, but… not this time. Maybe later, but not now." Pearl turned her back on Garnet and Amethyst. "I'm going back to the house. Connie should be there by now, I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Are you sure about this?" Garnet asked the slender gem.

"Yes, I am."

"Very well." The visor clad gem said understandingly. "You best be on your way, then."

"Again, I'm sorry." Pearl apologized.

"No need to be, you just need some time. That's all."

With that, Pearl headed towards the teleporter. Sadly, it was quite a distance away, so that gave Pearl's guilty conscience a chance to sneak up on her again.

' _It must be so hard for Garnet to be understanding when I'm like… this as of late. Nevertheless, I am at least happy that she's being patient with me.'_ Pearl reasoned with herself. _'Plus, even Amethyst is being sympathetic, at least somewhat. I can't remember the last time that happened.'_ She added as a small smile found a way onto her face.

' _Still, Amethyst was right. I can't let this guilt control me. Hmmm… maybe I should finally take up Avery's offer and talk with him. I wonder if he's still at the house."_

Finally reaching the teleporter and activating it, Pearl's question was answered.

"So, what did you guys think of episode one?" The man Pearl was thinking about said.

"That." Steven started.

"Was." Connie continued.

"AWESOME!" Both finished simultaneously.

"I'm glad you liked it." Avery said, laughing slightly at the duo's reaction. After saying that, he caught Pearl in his line of sight. In reaction to this, Avery called out to the floor below:

"Oh, hello Pearl! Good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too. I was actually hoping you were still here."

"Is that so? Why is that the case?" Avery asked while climbing down Steven's ladder.

"Well, you see… You know what, it can wait for a while. I need to give Connie some practice."

"Are you sure it can wait? It sounds urgent." Avery said worriedly.

"I'm sure. I don't want to keep Connie waiting. Speaking of which," Pearl paused momentarily to redirect her voice to the girl in question. "Are you ready you start, Connie?"

"Yes I am." She replied.

"Say, what are you two practicing, anyway?" Avery asked.

In response to this, Connie unsheathed a sword Avery hadn't noticed her walk in with.

"Swordplay." The girl said proudly.

"Woah, seriously?" Avery turned to Pearl. "You know how to wield a sword?"

Pearl laughed her trademarked dorky laugh. Doing such made Avery's heart skip a beat.

' _Not now, feelings.'_ Avery thought, irritated.

"Know how to? Avery, I can run circles around anybody who claims themselves to be a swordsman."

"Is there any chance I can watch you two?" Avery asked, his excitement growing.

"Be my guest." Pearl answered with a shrug.

"Thank you."

"Just wait 'till you see, Avery," Steven started. "Pearl and Connie are amazing!"

"I'm not that good, just yet." Connie said, blush apparent on her face.

"Oh, don't talk like that." Said Pearl. "You've improved significantly over the past several weeks."

Such talk made Connie only blush deeper.

"So, do you guys just train in the house or is there somewhere special it takes place?" Avery asked

"You'll see." Pearl said plainly while stepping on the teleporter. Soon after, Steven and Connie followed suit, with Avery finally stepping on after a 'C'mon' from Steven.

After doing so, Avery felt a hand on his shoulder. Turing his head around, he could see the hand belonged to Pearl. As he was looking at her questioningly, Pearl answered Avery with:

"I just want to make sure you don't fly away."

"What do you mean?"

Avery's questioned was answered when soon after, the teleporter activated. Feeling a sudden lightness of his being, Avery almost stumbled out of the beam of light surrounding him and the others. Luckily, Pearl was there to right him.

"Are you okay?" She inquired.

"Um, yeah, I'm… Okay." Avery answered, blushing with embarrassment (and something else, unbeknownst to Pearl).

After that little escapade, the light surrounding the group died down to reveal a gladiatorial style arena surrounded by clouds.

"Wow." Avery said, distracted by the beauty of their location. "Where are we?"

"The Sky Arena!" Steven exclaimed, arms outstretched.

"Why don't you and Steven sit over there," Pearl pointed over to some stone seating with her own sword. "We will begin momentarily."

Finding a spot with a good view of the upcoming action, Steven and Avery situated themselves.

"I hope you guys are ready for a show!" Connie called out to the two in the audience.

And what a show it was.

While Pearl was the prominent displayer of the more advanced maneuvers, Connie also did a decent job keeping up with her mentor. They showed off different uses of the parry, thrust, and multiple kinds of guarding and countering. It was all very exciting to Avery.

He, however, couldn't help but notice something off with Pearl. Even though this was the first time he saw her using a sword, her movements seemed somewhat delayed and her gaze was elsewhere most of the time. Connie must have also noticed this, because after practicing for a while she asked:

"Are you okay, Pearl? You don't seem yourself."

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I just have some… things on my mind."

"Would you like to talk about them?" Avery called from the stands, jerking his head over to the teleporter.

"… I would, yes."

Pearl and Avery started to walk towards the teleporter. Steven and Connie were about to do the same, but Pearl stopped them by saying:

"Steven, why don't you stay here and help Connie with her training for the time being?"

"Oh. Okay." The boy replied.

With that, the slender gem and the young man disappeared within a beam of light.

Upon the duo's departure, Steven's face morphed into a small smile.

"Why are you so happy?" Connie questioned her best friend.

"Oh, no reason. I'm just rooting for those two."

"Rooting? How so?"

"You know, I'm hoping they get together." Steven explained in further detail.

"Really?" Connie asked with a small laugh.

"Yes, really. Look, you may not know him that well, but Avery's a really good guy. He can be a bit dorky, but so can Pearl! Besides, whenever he's around, Pearl's always smiling and enjoying herself. At least, more so than any other human I've seen her with. Plus," Steven continued, his face becoming more serious. "I just want Pearl to happy, and I think with Avery she can have that."

"I see." Said Connie. "Well, it seems she at least trusts him to talk about her problems. Also, even though I barely know him, I guess I can agree with you about Avery being a good guy." She reasoned.

"See, I told you!" Steven exclaimed. "So, what do ya say: You wanna help me get those two crazy kids together?"

Connie looked down to the ground, thinking momentarily before saying with a smile:

"Okay, sure, why not?"

"Alright!" Steven exclaimed, following with an overdramatic utterance of the words:

"Initiating: Operation Pearlvery!"

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry if this chapter isn't as good of quality as the last one, I've been preoccupied with some other things at the moment. Nothing much else to say except leave your reviews to tell me what I can improve.**


	11. Chapter 11

' _Steady… steady… and-'_

*CRASH*

Amethyst was able to break through one of the several hexagonal casings. That is, of course, after Garnet threw her for the umpteenth time against one of them. Not that Amethyst was necessarily complaining, she found this kinda fun, but she knew there was a much easier way to get this over with.

"Did you bubble the gem?" Garnet asked from below.

"Yeah, I've got it." Amethyst replied. "So, is there any reason we haven't fused into Sugilite yet?"

"You know how unstable she can be. She may be strong, yes, but mindless strength isn't what we need right now. We need Sardonyx."

"UGH!" Amethyst cried out in exasperation. "C'mon, G! I know you're trying to help Pearl feel more comfortable again, but it's obvious that ain't working right now!"

Garnet sighed deeply. She knew her purple companion had a point, but she still wanted to stick up for her slender friend.

"That doesn't mean we can't at least try to help her." Garnet said firmly. "I'm not sure if you realize this, but Pearl has much more that she needs to deal with than just her fusion struggles. I figured I would at least try to lighten her load."

"Don't you think I know that?" Amethyst asked rhetorically. "As much as I pick on Pearl, she's still one of my best friends." Her face became etched with sadness. "It breaks my heart to see how much she's going through."

"As it does mine," Garnet started. "And I understand how frustrating it must be for you to just sit idly by and wait for Pearl to get better. However, what she needs most from us is patience. If we try to just speed things along with her, she might end up feeling ever more insecure if we do something wrong. You understand, right."

Amethyst looked to Garnet before sighing and saying:

"Alright, alright, I get it."

Garnet smiled at her younger counterpart and tousled her hair.

"Thank you for understanding."

Amethyst struggled to get out of Garnet's grip on her head. When she finally did, she said whilst smiling:

"Hey! I'm not that young anymore!"

With that said, the two gems had a good laugh and proceeded to get back to their work.

* * *

"So, tell me what's on your mind."

Avery asked this while sitting across from Pearl, both of whom were situated around a kitchen counter outcropping. Both also had a cup of tea in front of them, made by Avery at Pearl's behest. However, while Avery had been sipping carefully at the hot liquid ever since it was prepared, Pearl's was ignored. This was mainly due to the fact that her eye contact was on the floorboards, her face screaming 'guilty conscience'. Avery had gotten to know that face rather well with the few patients he was seeing back in the previous city he was living in. Regardless, even though he was enjoying just staring at Pearl, Avery reluctantly remembered that wasn't what she asked him to help with. So to break the silence and possibly get Pearl to say something, the therapist said:

"You know, Pearl, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Pearl sighed. "I understand that, it's just that there are a few things holding me back from telling you what I need to tell you?"

"Why might that be?" Avery inquired, hands clasped together on the counter.

"There are a few reasons. One, I'm not sure you'll understand because of all the gem terminology I might have to use."

Avery smiled warmly at Pearl. "I take it you don't recall what I said to you a couple weeks back when you guys helped me move?"

Pearl tried to recall the conversation that she and Avery had had all those weeks back. She then remembered what piece of it Avery was referring to and smiled back at him.

"You told me you may not understand everything I say, but you would try to help the best you can." Pearl recalled aloud.

"Exactly. So your first point is invalid."

Pearl's smile suddenly disappeared from her face, her eyes cast downward once more.

"By that look on your face I take it there's more holding you back?" Avery asked.

Pearl shook her head 'yes' in response.

"Is there any chance you can tell me what it is, or is it too personal?"

"It's not personal, per se, I just… feel so horrible about the situation that it pains me to talk about it."

"I see." Avery said.

The duo sat in an uncomfortable silence for some time, until Avery came up with an idea.

"What if I told you something horrible that I once did?"

"… What?" Pearl asked after some hesitation.

"This may sound like a somewhat childish way about doing this, but if I told you something bad I did and you did the same, that would make us even, wouldn't it?"

Pearl paused for a moment. She then gave a half-smile to Avery and muttered audibly.

"You certainly have an interesting way of thinking."

"Hey," Avery started with the same smile on his face. "You kinda have to develop one in order to deal with patients. Or, you know… friends."

At that last bit of sentence, Pearl started to laugh, making Avery's heart melt.

' _This isn't the time or place, feelings.'_ He thought, trying to refocus on the task at hand.

After her slight laughing fit, Pearl calmed down and said:

"Thank you. I needed that."

"Anytime." Avery replied.

"So…" Pearl started hesitantly, still not sure if she wanted Avery to tell something personal. She may have talked with him quite frequently when he was over to the house, but their conversation topics mainly dealt with their likes and dislikes. The past was a topic that Pearl tried to steer away from in any conversation, let alone somebody she had only known for a few weeks. Then again, because of the little knowledge she had of him, maybe this was a blessing in disguise to learn more about her friend.

And besides, Pearl couldn't quite put her finger on it, but for some reason she felt safe talking about these kinds of issues. Maybe it was the tone in his voice or the look in his eye, but for whatever reason Pearl knew that she wouldn't regret sharing what was on her mind.

Realizing she had been in mid-sentence for some time now, Pearl continued with:

"… What is it you would like to tell me?"

Avery rested his head behind his clasped hands, looking upwards in thought.

' _Let us see… what is there I can tell her that's personal but not too dark. Hmmm…'_

Suddenly something sprung to Avery's mind. It wasn't necessarily a pleasant memory, but if it made Pearl feel more comfortable…

"I remember you overheard the talk I had with Steven a while back?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"So, that means you also listened in on the fact that my mother died in a car crash."

"Indeed. I'm not certain if I expressed this before, but I am so sorry for your loss."

"No, it's okay, there's no need for you to be sorry. You had nothing to do with it."

"Well, regardless." Pearl said. "Still, what does your mother have to do with the 'terrible thing' you keep talking about?" She continued.

"I didn't cry when I first heard she died."

Pearl was taken aback at how plainly Avery said.

"You… you what?"

"I didn't cry when she died. At least, not at first."

"But, why?" Pearl asked in a combined state of confusion and curiosity. "She's your mother! Did you hate her that much?"

Avery took a deep, shaky breath. "It's not that I hated her. Far from it, I loved her. It's just that… she had some rather self-destructive tendencies."

Pearl looked to Avery, more confused and curious than ever.

"What do you mean?"

"She was a heavy drinker, for one."

Pearl gasped, her hand covering her mouth.

' _God, she looks cute when she does that-'_ realizing his feelings were coming back full force, Avery told them in thought: _'STOP. IT.'_

"Before you say anything," Avery started, wanting to get his thoughts back on track. "Just keep in mind that even though she was an alcoholic, she never laid a finger on me or my sister."

"Still, that's terrible!" Pearl exclaimed.

"It wasn't entirely her fault, though. She grew up in a house with two alcoholic parents, so I suppose it was just second nature for her to be like that. Plus, her alcoholism wasn't her only problem. She gambled frequently, she dabbled in marijuana, and because of her somewhat broken home she developed bipolar disorder."

"I see…" Pearl said, a sad look in her eyes.

"Anyways, back to the matter at hand: A couple years before she died, my father, logically, wanted a divorce because of the destruction she was causing with her drinking and gambling. Needless to say, she freaked out and started to pack her bags. Over the next couple years, while I wouldn't call it full on hate, I began to resent her. It pained me to see her have so much pride to leave her children and husband behind just so she wouldn't have to face her problems like an adult."

"Oh dear…"

"When I was eighteen and got the news she had died while drunk driving, I wasn't sad. I more confused and angry than anything. I thought things along the lines of 'How dare she leave us like this' and 'What else did I expect'. Eventually, I came around and started to feel sad, but I still remember those days of resentment like it was yesterday…"

Avery looked down, a small amount of tears welling in his eyes. Not wanting to see her friend in such a state, she stood up and walked towards Avery, giving him a hug in the process.

"I am so sorry I made you bring that up."

"It's okay." Avery said in as much of a neutral voice as he could muster (Made difficult from both his tears and the hug he had just received). "It's more than okay, I needed to talk with someone about that." He gave Pearl a watery smile. "Thank you."

Pearl smiled right back. "I'm just happy to help a friend."

Settling herself back into her seat, Avery asked Pearl:

"So, was that enough to get your story?"

"More than enough. Let me tell you about Gem fusion."

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! My apologies that this chapter wasn't too eventful, I just wanted to develop Avery a bit more. Not much else to say except leave your reviews and tell me what you think!**


	12. Chapter 12

"Gem fusion? What might that be?" Avery inquired.

"Well," Pearl started. "It's a process in which two gems, usually with a close enough bond, perform a dance together. After said dance, if performed correctly and the ones participating are in perfect unison, an amalgamation of the two's power will be created into a being of their own."

"I see." Avery said. "That sounds fascinating."

"It is indeed a captivating process." Pearl said with a smile. "I personally could go on and on about the different technical sides of fusion, but…" That smile quickly ran away from her face. "That isn't what we are here to talk about."

"Maybe so," Avery started. "But since you brought it up, this fusion business obviously has something to do with what's on your mind."

"You'd be correct." Pearl said grimly.

"So… what exactly is the connection?"

Pearl took a deep breath, her face etched with shame.

"A while back, the others and I were chasing somebody named Peridot. She's an ally now, but the reasons we were chasing her is a story for another day. Regardless, one day we found transmission towers built by her that were meant to send a message to her former leader and our enemy, Yellow Diamond. The towers were far too large for any one of us to destroy alone, so Garnet and I decided to fuse…"

Pearl paused, once again looking down towards the floor.

"Pearl, if this is too uncomfortable for you, you don't have to tell this story-"

"No." Pearl stopped Avery abruptly. "You were strong enough to tell me something from your past, now it's my turn."

"… Very well." Avery said after some mental deliberation.

"Anyways, I hadn't fused with Garnet in some time at that point, so as you can imagine I was rather excited to do so." Pearl looked to the ceiling, an almost nostalgic façade on her face.

"Judging by that facial expression, I take it that fusing with Garnet was a rather pleasurable experience?" Avery asked.

"Oh, it was. It was so much fun to work in unison with my friend like that. I felt so free, so in control, so… powerful. Because of this, I… rebuilt the towers without anyone knowing just to fuse with Garnet again."

Avery looked surprised, but not accusatory after Pearl said this.

"I observe." He said.

"I rebuilt the towers several more times after me and Garnet kept destroying them. However, Garnet eventually found out what I was doing, and she became very reasonably angry with me… what I did was awful."

Pearl suddenly looked extremely tormented. In order to comfort her, Avery said:

"You know that you don't need to villainize yourself in order to justify another's feelings, Pearl."

"But what I did was wrong! I not only put my friend's lives in danger, but the entirety of the world as well."

"Now wait just a minute." Avery interjected. "Now, I'm not going to say what you did was right. However, you also need to understand that it's already happened, so there is no use in fretting over it so much. As you can plainly see, the world isn't in dystopia because of your decision and from what I've seen of you and Garnet interacting she's obviously forgiven you. Try not to tear at yourself so much, because from these pieces of evidence pretty much everything seems to have smoothed itself out."

Pearl looked to Avery, seeming to have calmed down considerably after Avery's monologue.

"I'm sorry for rambling, I just thought you might want/need to know that. You were starting to get pretty stressed out." He continued.

"No, it's perfectly fine. I did need that, thank you." Pearl said while giving a small smile.

"Of course. I'm happy to help in any way, shape or form."

"It comforts me to know that." Said Pearl, who was starting to stand up. "Thank you so much for talking with me, I'm feeling much better. Why don't we head back to the Sky Arena, I believe we've kept Connie and Steven waiting long enough."

Avery was about to agree with Pearl, but his therapeutic side got the best of him. After reviewing what he and Pearl had discussed over their conversation, he couldn't help but notice something amiss when the pale gem mentioned something about the time she and Garnet fused.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk with you some more."

Pearl looked to Avery questioningly. "What exactly is it you want to talk about?"

"When you were talking about fusing with Garnet, I noticed that you paused somewhat before you said the word 'powerful'. This has me somewhat concerned."

Pearl was now back to her seat across from Avery.

"Concerned how?" She asked.

"Well, I'm just worried that you may or may not have liked fusing with Garnet because recently you've been feeling powerless." The therapist stated. "Is this a safe assumption to make?"

Pearl looked as if she reverted back into her distressed state from earlier.

"… Maybe." She said hesitantly.

"If that's the case, how long have you been feeling powerless?"

Pearl began to look Avery in the eye.

"For some time, Avery… For some time."

"Is there any chance you can give me an exact time you've started to feel like this?"

"I think it was around the time I became self-aware."

"Self-aware? What do you mean by that?"

Pearl looked out the nearby window, her gaze peering skyward.

"You see," She started. "Back on my planet, Homeworld, my kind is merely a caste of workers. We did manual labor for our masters and that was about the extent of our purpose. We were little more than Ornaments. Things." Pearl said 'things' with a very noticeable amount of vitriol.

Avery looked horrified. "So, what, you and your kind are essentially just made to become servants?"

"That's correct." Pearl said with a tone simultaneous sadness and familiarity.

"That's awful! What kind of person could do that to an entire race of being!?"

Pearl sighed. "Avery, I won't go into the specifics because it would take far too much time, but let me just say this: Homeworld is a cruel place."

Avery looked to Pearl sympathetically. "If that's how you want to leave that then so be it. Anyways, back on track: What does self-aware mean to you?"

"You see, when I was created, at first I did what I was programed to do. However, that all changed when the rebellion started."

"Rebellion?" Avery asked.

Pearl winced. "It was a horrible time. To put simply: Homeworld wished to take over Earth for its resources. My master at the time, Rose Quartz, disagreed with many of our higher-ups because there was intelligent life on this planet. As such a war broke out between Rose Quartz and Yellow Diamond."

"I see. Wait, so Rose was your master back on Homeworld?" Avery inquired.

"That's right." Pearl said with a sad smile, remembering her former leader with fondness. "When the rebellion started, she helped me realize that I was more than just an accessory, as it were. Although, because of this, at first I didn't feel sufficient enough to participate in the war effort. All I knew at that time was menial labor. Luckily, Rose helped me realize I was… more than that. She taught me diplomacy and how to defend myself. I became her closest confidant. I was…"

Pearl's eyes suddenly began to well up with tears.

"… Her best friend." She sobbed out.

Avery, wanting comfort his friend, rushed over to Pearl's side and put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay."

Pearl began to sniffle, trying to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry. You know how delicate of a topic Rose is for me."

"I know. I'm so sorry that you have to deal with this. You must be very confused a lot of the time."

"Confusion is something that I've become rather accustomed to." Pearl said with a bitter laugh.

"Still, I don't think it's fair that somebody as wonderful as you should be suffering like this."

Pearl looked to Avery appreciatively. "Thank you so much for the sentiment."

"Of course." Avery began to stand up from his spot behind Pearl and said. "Well, I think that's enough for today. Unless, of course, you want to keep talking."

Pearl wracked her brain for anything that she might want to talk about. After a few moments, something came to her mind. Something that she had meaning to discuss with somebody for a long time, she just didn't know anybody who could look at this issue with a neutral viewpoint.

That is, until now.

"There… actually is something else I would like to talk about."

"Okay." Avery took his seat across from Pearl again. "What's the problem?"

"To be quite honest with you… this is possibly the thing that I hate most about myself."

"I see… sounds like this has been plaguing you for quite some time."

"It has."

Avery and Pearl sat in silence for a few moments, before Avery broke it with:

"Do you want me to give you another out?"

"What do you mean?" Pearl inquired.

"You know, what I did earlier: I tell something troubling from my past so you can do the same with somewhat less guilt."

Pearl looked down in thought for a few moments before saying:

"I think that would help, yes."

Avery searched his brain for another story from his past to tell Pearl, when a big thought hit him:

' _Do I trust her enough to tell her?'_

Avery looked Pearl straight in the eyes. He could clearly see the need and trust in them. Such a gaze made Avery's heart beat faster.

' _How can I say no to a face like that?'_ Avery thought.

Suddenly, Avery stood up from his seat and said to Pearl with a 'come hither' gesture:

"Follow me."

"Wait, where are we going?" Pearl said as she began to follow Avery.

"Somewhere significant to my story. In my opinion, it isn't the same without being there."

"Well…" Pearl started hesitantly. "… If you say so."

"Excellent."

With that, Avery and Pearl started to head towards the former's car. The car ride was mainly filled with silence and awkward sideways glances from Pearl. After about ten minutes, Avery stopped the car and stepped outside. Pearl was about to open her own door, but was stopped when Avery opened it for her.

"Oh, thank you." She said with a slight giggle. "So, where are we…?" Pearl stopped her statement when she saw a large white structure.

"Oh, so you brought us to the lighthouse."

"Indeed I did." Said Avery. Pearl couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Avery's voice seemed filled with… regret, she wanted to say.

"So, what significance does this have to your story?" Pearl asked.

"Most of it. This is where the climax takes place."

"Climax?" Pearl said questioningly. "I don't understand."

"Pearl, you know how Garnet and I have met before I knew you and Steven?"

"Yes… what exactly are you getting at?" Pearl, for whatever reason, was starting to feel worried at what Avery was about to tell her.

"Well, I'm going to tell you the story of how we met." Avery said while clasping his hands together.

Pearl began to chuckle. "Really? That's all? That doesn't sound too terrible from my perspective."

"Oh, believe me Pearl, that isn't all. In fact, you're getting two stories in one."

Pearl looked to Avery questioningly. "What is the other story?"

Avery sighed deeply. His regret was once again deeply apparent on his face.

"This is also the story of how I tried to commit suicide."

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry if this either A: Seemed a bit too rushed or B: Ended on too dark of a note for you. For A, I just of wanted to get this out there and for B, well... this isn't going to be your kind of story if you weren't in to the ending of this chapter. Regardless, leave your reviews and tell me what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

Pearl stood in silence for a few moments, flabbergasted at what Avery had just said.

"I… I don't understand." She stuttered out.

"I thought I made myself rather clear." Avery said grimly, gesturing towards the cliff he and Pearl were currently standing near. "Around five years ago, this is where I tried to kill myself."

"I heard you the first concern, my main concern is… well, why!?" Pearl asked, worry clearly showing in her voice.

Avery took a deep breath. This wasn't necessarily the most pleasant of topics for him to talk about.

' _Well,'_ He thought in a reasoning manner. _'I already dived in… might as well take a swim.'_

"To be quite honest with you, Pearl, I've been suffering from a very deep depression since I was around sixteen." Avery explained. "Because of this, my thought process, especially several years ago, was very nihilistic. Everything felt like it didn't matter, and as a result, at least from my point of view, I felt my own life had no meaning and was… well, worthless."

"I see." Said Pearl, sympathy very easily shown on her face. "Is that the reason why you wanted to… you know…?"

"Well, it's part of it. I suppose I should tell you the whole story behind it-"Avery was cut off by the feeling of water on his neck and the boom of thunder in the distance.

"Ah, darn it. Let's head back to the car."

With that said, him and the slender gem scampered off back into Avery's vehicle. After both he and Pearl were situated comfortably in their seats, Avery said:

"So… shall I begin?"

"Only if you're comfortable with doing so." Pearl said.

Avery smiled sadly at the pale gem. "Don't worry, I'm all too familiar with this piece."

Leaning back in his chair, Avery looked to the clouds and the rain they were producing.

"It happened on a weekend very similar to this one…"

* * *

' _ **Once upon a time you dressed so fine**_

 _ **Threw the bums a dime in your prime,**_

 _ **Didn't you?'**_

The folk music was blaring through the radio. Usually Avery found comfort in Bob Dylan, in fact what was playing was quite possibly his favorite song by the man, but now the tune didn't seem so pleasant. All Avery could focus on was the rumbling of the road as he and his family drove towards their location. Well, that and what felt like a bottomless pit in his chest where his heart used to be.

The other members of his family seemed to be in a state that he was in: A quiet sadness while trying to get rid of it with something, anything to distract themselves from it.

Avery's father, unlike himself, seemed to find some form of solace in the music that was playing. He was slightly bobbing his head and humming to the tune Mr. Dylan was laying out, albeit hollowly. His sister, Margaret, on the other hand was reading a book to keep her mind off of the most likely crippling sadness.

' _Figures she'd be reading'_ Avery thought. _'She always reads when she doesn't want to deal with something.'_ While Avery was slightly discouraged by the way his sister looked close on the verge of tears (Be it from what was about to take place or from the book), he was at least glad for some form of familiarity from his other family members.

Wanting to break the silence between his family, Avery asked his father:

"So, around how much longer until we get there?"

"Oh, about half an hour, I'd say." His father croaked in reply.

That being said, the family arrived to their destination around ten minutes sooner than expected. Maybe it was because of the father wanting to relive memories of from his past or possibly he just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible so the hurting would stop.

Regardless, they had arrived in Beach City and made it to their desired location: a lighthouse on a cliff.

"Ah, this place brings back so many memories. You know this is where I proposed to your mother, right?" Avery's father said, reminiscing.

"We know." Avery said as politely as possible so not to hurt his father's feelings. That's the last thing he would want to do in a situation such as this.

"Are you sure this is the right place for mom?" Margaret asked. "I mean, yeah, it's where you proposed to her, but what else is significant about this place to her?"

Avery's father smiled sadly at his two children. "This place meant so much to your mother. She and her family vacationed here often. As I take it you already know, her family life wasn't too pleasant, so she always came to this lighthouse to get away from everything. Sometimes when she came here, she said there was this beautiful woman tending to some form of moss up here. Your mother always talked with her when she was feeling low, and the woman was happy to listen. So, to answer your question, Margaret: Yes, I do think this is the right place for your mother. That is of course, unless you two think otherwise?"

Both Margaret and Avery sat in silence for a few moments. Their father took this as an okay.

"Are you two ready?" Avery's father inquired.

"Yeah, I think so." Margaret said with a sniffle.

"And you?" Avery's father turned towards his son

Avery sat in silence. He wasn't really sure he was ready for something as emotional as this. He knew he would cry, and he absolutely despised crying. It made him feel so weak.

"Actually, I think I'm going to stay in the car for a while. I want be make sure I know what my last words are."

Avery's father patted his son on the shoulder. "Take all the time you need, son."

With that, Avery's father and Margaret stepped out of the car and went to the trunk to get what was necessary for this event: An urn containing Avery's mother.

As he watched his father and sister go up the hill towards the lighthouse, Avery sat in rumination about all that had happened recently and how it made him feel.

' _Why did you have to do this, mom?'_ Avery thought bitterly. _'You could have just accepted you had a problem and gone into rehab, but no: You had to let your pride get the better of you and just run away from your problems. What kind of mother would do that to their family?'_

It was at this point that Avery started crying. He was just glad that his family couldn't see him like this. He had to be strong, for their sake.

' _But what if I don't want to be strong? What if I want to be weak sometimes? Lord knows I've been feeling so weak…'_

Avery meant this in both a physical and a mental sense. Depression could do that to a person.

It could also make a person think of some very dark and drastic thoughts, like Avery was doing right now.

Avery looked towards the hill containing the lighthouse and wondered how tall the cliff really was.

' _I wonder… is it high enough to kill somebody?'_

Avery flinched. _'Not this again. I thought I'd gotten over that phase.'_

Apparently, though, he hadn't, as he could help but let his mind wander and think of himself colliding with the ground from such a height. Avery didn't want to admit it, but with all that he was going through that was starting to sound like a decent solution to get away from it all for good.

' _It would be easy enough… All I'd have to do is just put one foot in front of the other until I'm off the cliff. Simple.'_

Avery couldn't believe he was actually considering this as an option. He knew that his depression was quite major and with everything that had happened with his mother that didn't necessarily help things, but he knew he was better than this.

' _You're not, though.'_ Avery thought grimly. _'You've been feeling so tired for so long. You're deserving of a rest…'_

Avery looked back towards the cliff.

'… _I'm going to do it.'_ He thought with finality.

After a few more minutes, Avery's father and sister came back down from the hill and got into the car.

"So, are you ready to say goodbye?" Avery's father asked

"… I am." Said Avery. Little did his father know that he meant that in more ways than one.

"Okay. We'll wait for you in the car."

"Actually, why don't you guys head back to the hotel? I'm going to be a while."

"Are you sure? It's quite a walk from here to the hotel."

"I'm sure. Besides, I think a walk would help when I'm though here." Avery lied through his teeth.

"If you say so. I love you."

Avery looked back to his father and sister, resisting the urge to let tears well in his eyes.

"I love you too. So much."

Avery's father and Margaret both smiled at him. Afterwards, they drove away towards the hotel.

Looking towards the cliff, Avery thought back to his mentality from earlier.

"One foot in front of the other, huh?" He said aloud. "Might as well give it a try."

And that's just what he did. Keep putting one foot in front of the other.

As he was walking, Avery couldn't help but let his mind wander back to some notable memories from his past. The numerous birthdays with his family and friends, his recent graduation, the first time he met Kyle…

Avery stopped dead in his tracks.

' _Kyle… I can't do this without saying goodbye to him.'_

With that thought, Avery pulled out his phone and went through his contacts until he found his best friend. Hitting the 'call' option, he put his phone to his ear, waiting for an answer to come. Eventually, a click came from the other end of the line with a simple:

"Hello?"

"Hey Kyle, its Avery. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all. What's up?"

"Nothing much. My family just got done spreading my mother's ashes."

"Oh, that's right. That was today, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Hopefully that wasn't too tough for you."

"It wasn't." Avery lied.

"That's good. Hey, but keep this in mind: I know that you and your mom haven't been on good terms lately, but try not to hold that over her head. You know that she loved you and I know that deep down you still love her. You understand, right?"

Avery took a deep breath. He hated it when other people were right in situations such as these.

"Yeah, I understand."

"That's good. So, is there anything else you want to talk about?"

"No, not really. I just wanted to give you a quick hello."

"Fair enough. See you."

"See you."

With that, Avery pressed the 'end' button and pocketed his phone.

' _Well, that certainly wasn't the most dramatic way to say goodbye, but it was good to hear his voice one last time.'_

Avery kept on walking towards the cliff. Looking to the lighthouse at his side, he wondered whether he should say any last words to his mother.

' _I'll have plenty to say to her in the afterlife… if there is one.'_ Avery reasoned with himself.

Taking a few more steps towards the cliff, Avery looked skyward and noticed how grey the sky was. He usually was a fan of whether such as this, but Avery couldn't help but feel slightly cheated.

' _I would have killed for some form of sunset right now. Heh, killed.'_ Avery laughed internally at his own morbid joke.

Avery was in the final stretch of land before the hill finally gave way to the cliff.

' _Alright… C'mon… just a few more steps.'_

Avery stood at the very edge of the cliff now. One more step, and it would be all over.

Avery took his final breath before saying:

"So long, world…"

Before he could take his final step, however, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. Before he could say anything, however, Avery was lifted off of his feet and carried several meters away from the cliff.

"What-hey, put me down!" Avery exclaimed.

His wish was granted a second later, and with Avery on the ground he could finally see who this mystery person was.

To say her hair was boxy was an understatement, and coupled with the shades she had on she looked like someone from the eighties got put into to a time machine and was sent to our time.

"Stop this." She said.

"Wait, hold on, how did you know I was going to kill myself? Frankly I'm more impressed than annoyed."

"I have my ways of knowing things such as this," The woman said mysteriously. "But that isn't what we should talk about."

"Tch, and what should we be talking about?" Avery asked incredulously.

"How foolish of a mistake you were about to make." The woman said plainly.

"Excuse me? How do you know what I was going to do was a mistake? You don't know me!"

"You're right, I don't. However, there has to be at least one reason for you to live."

"Of course there is, but that doesn't make my brain feel any less like dying. You think I want to feel like this?"

"I can imagine that you don't." The woman continued in her neutral voice. "But there's always a way to get better. I'm sure of it."

Avery sighed deeply. "Listen, uh… What's your name?"

"Garnet."

"Listen, Garnet: I understand that you're trying to help, and I greatly appreciate that. However, I'm pretty sure you don't know firsthand about how it feels to be me. Every day feels like an agonizing ordeal to go through, so much so that it takes all my willpower to get out of bed in the morning. Even when I do, everything that I partake in feels like it means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things because I'm just one man amid billions on a planet whose importance means diddly-squat in relation to the size of everything else in the universe. Because of this, the feeling that most people would call joy only comes along for me once in a blue moon, and even when it does come my brain always, and I mean ALWAYS, finds a way to bring myself back down because for reason for another I've grown to loath myself more than any other being on this earth. So is it any wonder why I thought the only way to fix all of this was to throw myself off of a cliff!?"

Avery was panting now, both at how much he said and the intensity in which he said it. Garnet, meanwhile, appeared as neutral as ever.

"Aren't you going to say anything!?" Avery asked, getting slightly angry at Garnet's stoniness.

"Do you want me to say something?" She said plainly.

"I don't know… I just want some form of reassurance that everything is going to be okay." Avery said whilst sitting down, exhausted from his rant.

Garnet proceeded to sit down next to him as she said:

"I know that what you're going through is very difficult, but you must understand that there are always going to be events in life that bring us down. For example, what made you want to kill yourself?"

"Well, besides everything I rambled about earlier, my mother died recently. My family actually just spread her ashes up here."

"I see. That is indeed something difficult to go through. However, even though her life may be over, your life still goes on, and before you say something like 'my life has no value', it may seem like that to you but I take it that other people would disagree with you. Like your family: Imagine how they would feel, losing another someone precious to them so soon after your mother?"

"… I guess that would be pretty thoughtless of me."

"Don't frame the situation like that. While it is true that some people may think of you throwing your life away is selfish, they obviously aren't worth your time because they didn't know what you were going through."

Avery brightened slightly at that remark. He didn't know why, but for some reason this Garnet was putting her at ease.

"You have a point."

Garnet proceeded to put a hand on Avery's shoulder and said:

"I'm sorry for your loss and all that you're going through, I really am. I just want you to know that things are going to get better. Trust me."

Avery stared at the sky for several moments before saying:

"… I think I need to go to the hospital."

"I see. Would you like me to walk you there?"

Avery smiled at Garnet.

"I would like that."

* * *

"So, what happened after that?" Pearl asked.

"Well, after getting permission from both my father and myself I was admitted into the psychiatric ward at the hospital here in town. Believe it or not, I was actually mainly treated by Connie's mom. I feel really bad now because I think I scared her a bit with my fatalism. Regardless, I was in there for a couple weeks until I was stable enough. It put a bit of a damper on my pride, being put in the ward, but I realized then that pride was overrated. Anyways, there you have it: the story of how I almost killed myself."

Pearl looked to Avery with tears in her eyes. "My goodness, Avery, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's all in the past now."

"I know, but that shouldn't be something anyone should go through."

"Well, your sympathy is greatly appreciated. So, I believe you wanted to talk about something?"

"I'm… not sure if I want to talk about it now. I feel awful enough as it is."

Avery smiled at Pearl sympathetically. "Okay. I'm sorry if I made you feel this way."

"No, no, no, it's perfectly fine. I'm just not too terribly used to hearing stories like that one."

"If you say so."

With that the two sat in a comfortable silence for some time, the pitter-patter of the rain outside the only sound between them.

After a while, Avery said:

"Why don't we head back? I'm sure we've kept Connie and Steven waiting long enough."

"I agree. Let's be on our way"

With that being said, Avery put his car in drive and the two headed off towards the beach house.

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry that this was quite a tonal shift from the rest of the story thus far, I just wanted to express Avery's past in a believable way. With that said, leave your reviews and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


	14. Chapter 14

"You know, after you told me your own taste for it several weeks ago, I've grown slightly more accustomed to the rain."

Avery turned his gaze from the rain plastered window and looked to Pearl, slightly surprised that she had A.) Broken the silence that had been stewing for several minutes and B.) Said what she had said.

"Oh really?" Avery began with a small smile. "That's good to hear. What exactly are you starting to like about it?"

Pearl looked up in thought for a moment. What did she like about the rain…?

"Hmmm… Well, for one thing, rain is very cleansing. It wipes away all the excess and makes everything more cleanly." Pearl said.

Avery chuckled slightly. "Cleanliness seems to be a theme with you, I've noticed." He said.

"Well, it is hard not to have it be, considering cleaning was most of what I did for the first several eons of my creation."

"Oh, that's right. Sorry for bringing that up." Avery said apologetically.

"No, its fine. You made a valid comment and I was just answering it."

"Fair enough. So, back to our regular conversation topic, is there anything else you've come to enjoy about the rain?" Avery questioned.

Upon ending his prior statement, Pearl thought some more. After a few moments, she began to smile softly.

"There is, actually. It reminds me of you."

When this sentence was spoken, Avery nearly spun out of control on the road due to shock. Pearl herself was feeling surprised as well that she had said that, albeit it was slightly more internalized than Avery.

' _Did she really say what I think she just said?'_

"W-w-what do you mean by that?" Avery stuttered out.

"W-well…" Pearl sat in silence.

' _What do I mean by that?'_ Pearl thought questioningly. _'Wait… I couldn't possibly have developed… no, that can't be the case.'_ Pearl tried to reason with herself while simultaneously trying to find a reason.

At last, after several more moments of silence, Pearl found a reason.

"What I mean by that is you're a very dear friend to me. Granted, we haven't known each other for too long, but in that time I've told you more about myself than most people I've allowed into my life know. When I'm around you I feel so secure and safe, and you're one of the few people that can make me laugh. I guess what I'm trying to say is…."

' _You're a very dear friend. That is what I'm trying to say.'_

Pearl began to look at Avery. For some peculiar reason, she began to notice things she hadn't before.

' _Come on, just say that he's a dear friend. Don't make this any more complicated than it has to be.'_

Be it the intelligence of his grey eyes, the cute messiness of his ebon hair or the kindness in his gaze, there were all sorts of things that she took granted.

' _I wonder if he looks at me like this… Wait, why would I even think something like that?'_

Even though she technically didn't have a heart, the thumping in her chest certainly made it felt like she had one.

' _No… It can't be… I think I'm…'_

Pearl had been sitting in silence for quite some time now. Wondering if she was okay at all, Avery said with genuine worry:

"Pearl? Are you feeling alright?"

More silence.

"Like I always say, Pearl: If you don't feel comfortable saying something you don't have to-"

"I think I'm in love with you."

Avery pulled over to the road as fast as he could and put the car in park, utterly dumbstruck at what he had heard.

"…What did you say?"

Pearl looked utterly terrified. She was hyperventilating, wringing her hands and actually seemed to be forming tears in the corners of her eyes.

Comparatively (Even though he didn't show it externally), Avery was on could nine.

' _She said she loves me… That's spectacular! After all this time I would assume she would never love a human, but this is great!"_

Pearl was still looking quite torn up. To hopefully sooth her fear (or whatever she was feeling at the moment), Avery decided to do something drastic.

' _Alright, she may have said it to you, but it's just as important that you say it back. You only get one shot at this. Okay… here I go."_

"Pearl, don't worry, it is okay. I feel the-"

"Don't say it!" Pearl shouted out.

Avery flinched. Looking at Pearl, he could see that tears were running freely down her face.

"Pearl, what's the matter?"

"I need to go." Pearl said practically immediately afterwards.

"What? Why?" Avery inquired, becoming more and more worried at his friend's semi-erratic behavior.

"I'm sorry, I just need to think." Pearl said in a strangled voice.

With that being said, Pearl opened her door and dashed out into the rain, her long and elegant strides bounding towards the beach house in the distance. All the while, Avery sat in his car confused and slightly heartbroken seeing his friend in so much anguish.

' _Oh Pearl.'_ Avery thought with sadness. _'Sometimes I wish I could solve all your problems for you… but sadly I know that can never be the case…"_

* * *

 **Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I present to you: My shortest chapter yet!**

 **...Yeah, you guys deserve a bit of an explanation.**

 **Firstly, I would like to apologize for the wait you guys had to endure for this chapter, only to receive so little. Having another story, social obligations and a near crippling case of depression can do that to you. But hey, at least there was some plot thickening!**

 **Secondly, there might be an occasion here or there where due to the three factors listed above, you'll have to either wait as long as you have or get a chapter as short as this one. Pick your poison.**

 **In summary, I'm sorry for the wait and the length of the chapter. I promise next one will be longer. With that said, leave your reviews and tell me what you think/what I can improve.**

 **P.S. Thank you so much to those who have Favorited and Followed this little story of mine. My appreciation has no bounds.**


	15. Chapter 15

Lost and Confused.

Those words as well as many others with a negative connotation could be used to describe how Avery was feeling.

Not lost spatially, mind you, but more in a 'where do I go from here' kind of way. After Pearl suddenly left after her impromptu confession of love, Avery was left slightly mentally dazed, and wondered what he could do to help make the situation at least somewhat better.

 _'Maybe I should talk to somebody about this. It's always good to get a second opinion when it comes to matters such as these.'_ Avery thought.

As Avery pulled out of his parked space from the side of the road, he wondered just who he could converse with to try and help with his situation. He couldn't really talk to any of the gems because he might risk seeing Pearl, and that's the last thing she needed right now. Steven too, mainly due to his admitted immaturity as well as the previously mentioned negative with talking with either Garnet or Amethyst. Though, on the subject of Steven and his family, Avery couldn't help but notice in the distance a neon sign to a certain car wash owned by a certain portly individual.

 _'Hmmm… Well, Greg did say that if I ever wanted to talk I should stop by. Maybe I should take advantage of that offer.'_

With that, Avery set his course towards 'It's A Wash'.

While driving and constantly looking out of his front window to the road ahead of him, Avery couldn't help but notice the barrage of raindrops that still assaulted his car. Much like how Pearl confessed that the rain reminded her of Avery, he himself would have to admit that the rain now made him think of the slender gem. Not just because of the times they had met during it, but also for another reason. You see, Avery always associated rain and storms with beauty. Be it the way lightning could paint the sky in flashes of blue and purple or a rainbow that resulted after long rainfall, beautiful was the only way Avery could describe weather like this.

And Pearl was most certainly beautiful.

Several minutes passed with Avery driving until he finally arrived at 'It's A Wash'. Taking a look around the premises, Avery could very well see Greg's van, but not the man himself. The wash appeared to be closed by the looks of things, so Avery wondered where Greg could be. Then, looking towards his van he thought:

 _'Well, he does live in his van. He could just be taking shelter from the storm. Maybe I should give a knock and see if he answers.'_

Driving nearer to the van, Avery rolled down his window and reached arm out to reach over to the vehicle and knock on the van's window, his arm getting drenched in the torrential downpour.

It took several moments, but having finally rolled down his own window Greg appeared. He looked slightly groggy at first, but as soon as he caught sight of Avery his demeanor quickly changed to happiness, complete with his all too welcoming smile.

"Oh hey there, Avery! What's new in the neighborhood?" Greg said

"Oh, a couple things." Avery responded. "Hopefully I didn't disturb you from anything." He continued, suddenly apologetic.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I was just waking up from a nap, that's all. I figured 'since it's raining and the wash is closed for now, I might as well get some extra shuteye'. "

"Sound reasoning." Avery said plainly.

"Anyways, enough about me, what about you? What's this new stuff this new stuff you mentioned?"

"About that: I was wondering if we could have another conversation like last time about it. Do you think you have the time?" Avery inquired.

"Course we could, anything for a friend!" Greg stated.

Avery smiled back at Steven's father. "Thanks." He said.

Avery was about to open his door and hop into the passenger seat of Greg's van when the man stopped him by saying:

"Oh, actually, would you mind if we talked in your car? It's kind of a mess in here." Greg said with a nervous chuckle.

"I don't mind at all. Come on in."

And that Greg did, stepping from his driver's side door and rushing over to Avery's passenger side.

"Man, that stuff is cold!" Greg exclaimed, wrapping his arms around himself to stave off the chilled feeling.

Avery couldn't help but chuckle at this display. "That is most certainly true." He said.

"So tell me, what's on your mind?"

Avery paused for a moment, for whatever reason being somewhat bashful to tell Greg of the escapade that had transpired.

 _'Come on, don't wuss out now. You came here specifically to talk with somebody, don't waste Greg's time.'_ Avery reasoned with himself, snapping out of his small stupor.

"It's… about Pearl."

Greg's face suddenly became serious. "I see. What exactly happened?"

"Well, we had just got done visiting the lighthouse-"

"Oh really? What were you two doing up there?"

Avery hesitated. He was comfortable telling Pearl of his attempted suicide, but he didn't think Greg was close enough with him to divulge that information.

"I just have some… memories with the place when I was on vacation here once. I figured I might as well share them with a good friend."

"Aha. Well, let's hope that soon enough she becomes more than a friend, am I right?" Greg said with a wink and a nudge of his elbow.

Avery smiled sadly at this statement.

"What's wrong?" Greg asked.

"Funny thing about you saying that: When we were driving back to the beach house Pearl… said that she thinks she's in love with me…"

At this, Greg gasped and his lips widened to the largest smile Avery had seen since he met him.

"She did!? That's amazing, I can't believe she actually fell in love with a-"

"At which point I was about to confess my own feelings, she made me stop what I was saying, began to cry tears of bitter sadness and asked me to pull over so she could run away." Avery interjected, finishing his story.

"… Oh." Greg's disposition quickly changed into one of sympathy. "That must've have hurt."

"It did. However, I can at least understand somewhat. As many people have said, Pearl isn't the biggest fan of humans so I would imagine that dealing with these new feelings must be pretty confusing."

"Well that, and right now she probably feels like she's betraying Rose." Greg said morosely.

"Betraying? What do you mean?" Avery became curious.

Greg looked to Avery sympathetically. "Come on, you had to have noticed by now."

"Noticed what?"

Greg sighed deeply, not sure if relaying the information he was about to would put Avery in a worse mood. However, Greg also felt that Avery should at least know the full story before he proceed to take action with Pearl.

"Avery, I'm not sure how you're going to feel about hearing this, but…"

"But what?" Avery said, becoming increasingly impatient.

"… Pearl most likely had feelings for Rose. Romantic ones."

Avery became blank-faced upon hearing this revelation.

"Wait, she did? Were those feelings at all reciprocated?"

Greg's demeanor changed to one of guilt. "Because of me, they weren't. That's why Pearl has always kind of held a grudge against me."

"I see…"

Avery looked down to the floor of his car, feeling saddened at what he'd been told and stupid for not realizing it sooner.

 _'How could I not have seen it? The way Pearl talks about Rose, how she looks at her portrait… it should have been obvious from the very beginning.'_

"So," Greg began, snapping Avery out of his stupor. "I take it you came to me for advice on what to do next."

"That was the plan, considering you probably know Pearl pretty well and I don't want to talk with the gems because I might run into Pearl."

Greg winced.

"… What?" Avery questioned, becoming worried at Greg's action.

"Sorry to say this, but I can't really say anything more than 'just wait it out'. Like we've said, Pearl has a lot going through her head right now and adding more to it will just push her farther away from you."

"But…" Avery wanted to add 'I can help her through this', but he knew in the bottom of his heart Greg was right about this.

"… You're right. I should just wait this out." Avery said dejectedly while slumping over in his seat.

"I'm really sorry for ya, pal. I know that you like Pearl a lot-"Greg said before being stopped by Avery.

"'Like Pearl a lot'? Greg, that's an understatement, I'm hopelessly and irretrievably in love with her. Whenever I look at her I can't stop my heart from beating so fast that it feels like it's about to burst through my chest. Or make my mind stop thinking about her, or not to anything in my power to help her any way I can because she means that much to me. And I know we haven't know each other for that long, but good god I've never felt feelings so assured and so real whenever she's around. She's become my sunny day, my ray of light through the clouds, my brightest star in the sky. Call it obsessive, but she's the one of the main reasons I get out of bed in the morning. With her, I could see a future that actually has a happy ending. And believe me when I say, It's really difficult for me to do that sometimes. But with her, it's easy. It's all easy."

Greg looked at Avery, slacked jawed and slightly teary eyed from the latter's monologue.

"Wow. *Sniff*. That was beautiful man. I didn't realize you had it that bad for her."

"I really do…" Avery trailed off while looking to the beach house nearby, wondering what Pearl was doing.

"Well, it seems like you have just as many thoughts stewin' in your head as Pearl. Maybe you should just sleep on this tonight."

Now that he mentioned it, it was getting somewhat late, and Avery was beginning to feel tired.

"I think you're right." Avery said with a yawn.

"I hope I was of some help." Greg said while patting Avery on the shoulder.

Avery smiled at Greg. "Believe me, you did. It was a big load off my chest to get those thoughts out there."

Greg smiled in tandem as he opened his car door. "Glad to hear that. Night."

"Goodnight, Greg."

With that, Greg stepped out into the drizzle of the evening, scampering back to his van. Before Avery was about to part towards his destination, however, he for one last time gazed towards the beach house and thought of Pearl.

 _'You said that you love me… and so help me god, even if it kills me, I will say it back. Let's just hope it doesn't cause anything catastrophic.'_

And thus, Avery put his car in drive and headed off towards his abode to get the rest he most desperately needed.

He just hoped he wouldn't spend half the night thinking about Pearl… though that was most likely going to happen.

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry that this chapter was very long, but at least it was longer than the last one. Be that as it may, as always leave your reviews and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Alright, Avery should be here any minute now. You remember the plan?"

Connie giggled at Steven's enthusiasm, seeing him pressed up against the window looking out for his tutor, waiting for his plan to unfurl.

"Of course I remember. You've went over it about nine times by now." Connie replied.

"Well, then let's go over it a tenth time just to make it a more complete number!" Steven exclaimed, turning towards Connie and looking in anticipation.

Connie sighed, smiling despite herself. She supposed she might as well humor Steven.

"The 'plan'," Connie began with air quotes, believing that Steven's strategy was so thin that it was hard to call it a plan. "Is that you nudge Avery into asking out Pearl while you're studying and I'll do the same to Pearl while we're practicing."

"Right you are!" Steven said.

"I still don't understand why you're so obsessed with this plan to begin with."

"Sorry, I just really want those two to get together." Steven explained to Connie. "Besides, you and I both know that Pearl really needs someone like that in her life. That, and I don't know why, but I get the feeling Avery needs Pearl as well."

"Oh, you're just saying that because it's in your nature to make everyone happy." Connie waved off.

"No, I'm serious." Steven turned to Connie, an out of character serious expression on his face. "Call me crazy, but I've noticed some stuff about Avery."

"Stuff? What kind of stuff?" Connie inquired.

"Well, I honestly haven't noticed much, but it just seems like he's had a bit of a rough past. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I do, actually."

"So you've noticed, too?" Steven asked.

"Well, that, and my mom told me outright." Connie explained.

"Really? Did she say anything specific?" Steven continued to question, wanting to know the secrets of his tutor.

"Nothing much besides that he struggled with depression when he was in his teens."

"Depression, huh?" Steven's expression suddenly saddened. "That sounds rough…"

"Hey, it's alright." Connie piped up, wanting to cheer her best friend up. "My mom also told me that he's gotten better, so there's no need to worry."

"If you say so-"

Steven was cut short by a knock at the front door. In reaction to this, Steven gasped and looked out of the window he was next to. Seeing Avery at the door, he sprung up from his location next to the window to go answer it.

"He's here!" Steven exclaimed, rushing over to the door. Upon opening it, he greeted Avery with an exuberant:

"Heya, Aver-Woah!" Steven recoiled. He looked to his tutor in a state that he would classify as anything but 'put-together'. Avery's hair was messier than it usually was, there were dark rings under his eyes, his clothes were wrinkled and his skin was a sickly pale.

"Afternoon, Steven." Avery croaked out with a weak smile. "Sorry if I'm not looking too well today, I just had a very rough night."

"No, it's cool. Are you sure you want to do this today? We could easily do it tomorrow." Steven reasoned.

"Nonsense. Trust me when I say: I've been through worse, this is nothing. Besides, I haven't seen you since I tutored you last week, I want to make sure a good friend is doing well."

Steven smiled up at Avery, happy to hear himself labeled as a 'good friend' in his tutor's eyes.

"Well, why don't we get started, then?" Steven suggested.

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Avery agreed. "Oh, hello Connie." The young man said, catching the girl in his sights.

"Hi there, Avery. Say, don't worry about me getting in the way of your tutoring, I should be practicing with Pearl here any minute now." Connie said.

"Ah, yes… Pearl…" Avery petered out, a dismal expression painting his face.

"… Is something wrong?" Connie asked, suddenly becoming worried at Avery's change in demeanor.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I was just… thinking of something." Avery answered.

"Okay…" Connie said, not convinced.

Before any more conversation could take place, a flash of light pierced the room in the form of the warp pad going off. When the light died down, it revealed Pearl standing with an even expression and her eyes closed.

"Steven, I'm back." She called out. Upon opening her eyes, she inadvertently caught sight of Avery first, her even expression quickly being replaced by one of panic.

"W-w-what are you doing here?" Pearl asked Avery shakily.

"It's his day to tutor me, remember?" Steven said to his guardian.

"Oh… yes, that's… right…" Pearl said, struggling to come up with anything fitting or intelligent to say.

Wanting to break the awkward silence that had settled around them, Connie said:

"So Pearl, are we still on my sword practice today?"

"Yes!" Pearl answered all too quickly. "Of course! Come along, let us do it now." Taking Connie by the arm, Pearl began to drag the girl over to the warp pad so they could beam themselves to the Sky Arena.

"O-okay. See you later, Steven." Connie called out.

"Bye Connie! Bye Pearl!" Steven called back.

Looking directly at Avery, Pearl's face suddenly became sympathetic and said simply:

"Good-bye."

With that, Pearl and Connie disappeared into a beam of light.

"… Farewell." Avery called out too late, a limp hand waving towards where Pearl was.

"So… should we get started?" Steven inquired.

"Oh, sure." Said Avery, snapping out of his stupor. The young man began to take a seat at the kitchen counter and started pulling out his tutoring supplies.

"Say," Steven began as he sat down across from Avery. "I'm sorry if this is a bit personal, but is there something going on between you and Pearl?"

Avery halted his actions, somewhat unprepared to answer the question that was posed to him.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. We just talked about some really personal subject matter when I pulled her aside last week, so she might feel a bit uncomfortable still." Avery explained, not a lie per se but still not the whole truth.

"Oh, okay." Steven said plainly. After saying this, his face began to grin slightly. Avery noticed this rather quickly and questioned with a chuckle:

"What's with the grin?"

"Oh, I was just wondering, since we're talking about Pearl: What do you think of her?"

If Avery wasn't prepared for the previous question, he certainly wasn't ready for this one.

"Oh, um, She's… very nice. I'm happy to call her a friend."

Steven's face then became a mixture of incredulous and smug.

"… What?" Avery questioned, becoming suddenly worried at Steven's expression.

"Oh, c'mon, we both know that isn't what you think of Pearl." Steven said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"What do you mean? I have no idea what you're talking about." Avery said, the blush dusting his face somewhat counteracting his latter statement.

"Of course you do. I see the way you look at her, how you're always wanting to help and talk to her. It's obvious you have feelings for her."

The blush on Avery's face turned from a light pink to a deep crimson after Steven made his declaration. Avery stuttered incoherently for a few moments, trying to think of something to say that would contradict Steven, but at last he decided to give in with a sigh and confess.

"… So, I was that obvious, huh?"

"Well, maybe not THAT obvious, but it was still pretty easy to see."

"I observe. Say, Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go right ahead."

"Why the sudden interest with me and Pearl?"

Steven laughed slightly before saying. "Because I want to see you two get together, silly!"

Avery became blank-faced for a moment before smiling at his friend/pupil.

"You do?"

"Of course I do!" Steven said with the utmost sincerity.

"That… really means a lot to me, Steven. Thank you."

"Of course! So, when are you going to ask her out?"

"… Um… I don't think I really have an ETA for that, Steven."

"Really? Well, why not ask her now?" Steven got out of his seat and began to walk towards the warp pad. "Here, I can go get her for you-"

"Steven, No!" Avery shouted with a bit too much force. Steven looked to Avery, blank faced at his show of desperation.

"… What was that all about?" Steven questioned.

"I'm sorry, Steven, it's just…" Avery became silent for a few moments, wanting to think of a convincing lie that wouldn't compromise either him or Pearl in this situation.

"It's just what?" Steven asked, becoming impatient.

"Well, you see, I'm just waiting for Pearl to ask me first, that's all. You and I both know that Pearl can be sensitive when it comes to things like this and I just want to make sure she's comfortable with the idea of us possibly being together before I ask her out."

"Oh. Okay." Steven said with a small smile, apparently taking the bait.

"Good. Now, why don't we get back to your studying?" Avery asked.

"Sounds good to me!" Steven agreed.

* * *

"Pearl, would you mind if we took a bit of a break? I'm getting exhausted." Connie said.

Pearl snapped out of her daze of sharpening her sword, looking over to her young student.

"Oh. Sure." She said somewhat dejectedly.

Connie took a seat on a nearby bench. Looking at her teacher, she couldn't help but notice that not only throughout their training, but right now as well, Pearl was acting rather strange. Wanting to find out about this peculiar behavior (as well as try to carry out Steven's 'plan'), Connie decided to probe Pearl with questioning.

"Are you feeling okay, Pearl?" Connie asked. "You seem kind of out of it today."

Pearl looked over to Connie and gave her a forced smile, wanting to simultaneously comfort her student and conceal her own feelings of worry.

"Oh, it's nothing you should worry yourself with. I just have something on my mind, that's all."

"It's about Avery, isn't it?" Connie questioned.

Pearl flinched. Her student was far too observant.

"What? Don't be ridiculous!" Pearl tried to wave off, the worry in her voice somewhat giving away her true thoughts. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, you sorta freaked out when you saw him today. Not only that but I've seen you two interact: You both are really happy to see each other."

Upon hearing this, Pearl looked down to the ground in shame.

"I guess it was somewhat obvious, wasn't it?"

"It kinda was." Connie admitted. "So, what's going on? What happened between the two of you?"

Pearl continued to look downward, thinking back to a week ago. It still made her depressed to think about the events that had transpired.

"I… said something foolish to Avery and because of that I feel too scared to talk to him."

"What did you say?" Connie questioned further.

"That… is something I don't wish to divulge, if you don't mind."

"Oh, c'mon Pearl, it couldn't be that bad. You can trust me." Connie said wholeheartedly.

Pearl was silent.

"… Pearl?

"….. I told him I was in love with him."

Connie gasped.

"Wait, what!? Are you serious?"

Pearl slowly shook her head yes, still peering to the stone floor below her.

"Pearl, that's great!" Connie exclaimed.

"No it isn't!" Pearl shouted back, tears forming in her eyes.

Connie flinched, surprised at her teacher's aggressive tone.

"… Why isn't it?"

"Because I… Can't be in love with a human." Pearl said sadly.

"Who says you can't?" Connie asked.

"Nobody, but no matter which way I looks at how things can proceed there isn't an option where one of us leaves the other. Be it Avery dying or him wanting a child, one of us will eventually be gone forever. And I can't accept that. Besides, if I did decide to be in love with him I would betray…"

"… Betray who?" Asked Connie, having a sneaking suspicion she knew who Pearl was about to regard.

Pearl was about to say 'her', but she couldn't bring herself to do so without losing her emotional footing even more than she had. Instead she opted for:

"I would betray everything that I stand for."

Connie sighed.

"Pearl, you don't have to lie to me. I know you were about to talk about Rose."

Pearl closed her eyes and shut her mouth, wanting to keep the tears and sobbing at bay.

She wasn't successful at holding back either.

Seeing Pearl break down, Connie rushed over to her teacher's side and hugged her legs.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. Trust me when I say you aren't betraying her if you go through with this. She would have wanted you to be happy. And with Avery you can be happy."

Pearl stopped her sobbing to say:

"Do you think so?"

Connie smiled up at Pearl.

"I know so."

Pearl smiled back at Connie, stroking her hair while doing so.

"Thank you. I needed that."

The two stood in silence, holding their position for a few moments before Pearl finally built up enough courage to say:

"… Connie, would you mind if we ended practice slightly early? I have some things I need to say to Avery."

Connie smiled.

"Of course we can."

* * *

"Now, who was the infamous Nazi doctor who was dubbed 'The Angel of Death'?" Avery quizzed.

"Hmmm… Josef Mengele, right?" Steven guessed.

"Correct! Now, when did-"

Avery's history lesson was interrupted by a beam of light surging from the warp pad. When the light died down, it revealed Pearl and Connie standing there.

"Hello Steven." Pearl said with resolve. "Avery."

"H-hello." Avery stuttered out.

"Is there any chance I could talk with you outside?" Pearl asked, directing herself at Avery. "There's something urgent I need to discuss with you."

"Of course." Avery said all too quickly. "Steven, we're pretty much done for today. I'll see you soon."

"Okay. See ya!" Steven said, winking at Avery. The young man couldn't help but smile at this display.

Stepping out onto the porch of the beach house, Avery and Pearl stood in awkward silence for a few moments before Avery broke it with:

"So… is there anywhere in particular you were wanting to talk?"

"Um… How about your car?" Pearl suggested, pointing to the grey vehicle parked in front of the house.

"Sure." Avery agreed.

The young man and the slender gem walked to and got inside the car, situating themselves comfortably. Once again, a silence settled around the two. That is until Pearl interrupted it with:

"I take it you remember what I said to you last week?"

"… Yes. Clear as a bell." Avery responded.

Pearl was about to say something, but Avery continued on.

"Now before you ask or say anything: Yes. I do have feelings for you. Very serious feelings that are hard for me to explain. However, to me you're a good friend first and foremost and if you don't have those same feelings I'll forget about them. I'd hate to lose out friendship because of this."

Pearl gave a sympathetic smile to her friend.

"That's very sweet of you to say. But to tell you the truth, as I'm guessing you've gathered from what I said last week: I also have feelings for you. I've been doing a lot of thinking ever since last week, And to be honest…"

Pearl reached her hand over to Avery's and intertwined their fingers, her smile becoming much more loving.

"… I think I'd like to express those feelings with you."

Now it was Avery's turn to smile. And his smile was the biggest, goofiest, happiest smile Pearl had ever seen him wear.

"You… You mean that?" Avery asked.

"I do." Pearl said with new-found resolve and lightness in her chest.

"That's fantastic!" Avery exclaimed, barely able to keep his happiness in check.

"Now keep in mind," Pearl began, wanting to bring her new partner down to earth. "I'm very new to this field of relationship so I might be slightly apprehensive to some things at first. I hope you understand that."

"Of course. I'm willing to take this as slow as possible for you."

Pearl smiled once again at her new boyfriend.

' _Boyfriend… Goodness, I'm going to have to get used to calling him that.'_ Pearl thought.

"Thank you." Pearl said warmly

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company and warmth emanating from each other's hands as they held on to them.

Suddenly, Pearl felt a pounding in her chest and ears. Looking over to Avery, she couldn't help but notice his lips for whatever reason. Then, after several moments of looking at her paramour, she couldn't hold back her urge.

"Excuse me, Avery?"

"Yes?"

"This may sound like an odd request, but… may I kiss you?"

Avery flinched, followed by a nervous smile and deep blush painting his face.

"O-o-of course you may."

Pearl smiled similarly to Avery as the two began to lean in to each other. Finally, after a few moments, their lips touched.

' _My goodness… this feels… wonderful.'_ Pearl thought in ecstasy.

The two loved everything about this moment: The taste of their breath, the feeling of their lips of the other's, the grip of their hands of the sides of each other's head. Everything culminated into a deep feeling of splendor.

That is until a certain boy interrupted the whole experience.

"Pearl! Garnet needs you!" Steven called out.

Avery and Pearl halted after hearing this, their faces inches away from each other after pulling away for breath.

"Well… I guess this means goodbye for now." Pearl said, disappointment lacing her tone.

"I suppose. Don't worry, though, I'll check up on you tomorrow." Avery consoled.

Pearl smiled warmly.

"I'd like that." She said as she opened her car door. "Have a good evening."

"I will. You as well." Avery said.

With that, Pearl closed her door and went inside the beach house. After seeing his new girlfriend leave, Avery decided to drive back to his own house.

And Avery could say with certainty that for the first time in a very long while, he felt truly happy.

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! Well, it happened: Avery and Pearl are finally together! I hope you folks enjoyed the chapter, please review and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


	17. Chapter 17

"So, what is it you need of me?" Pearl asked Garnet as she walked through the door of the beach house.

"Oh, nothing much." Garnet said with an unusually large smile. "Me, Amethyst, Steven, Connie and Greg were just going into the city to see a movie. We were wondering if you wanted to join us."

"It's a remake of the first DogCopter film. I've heard great things about it, you should tag along." Connie said.

"Yeah, come with us Pearl!" Steven said with excitement "You can bring Avery along, as well!"

Pearl brightened up at that prospect. She usually didn't like partaking in the viewing of movies, but Pearl often heard that when starting into a relationship seeing a movie was a good first choice for a 'date'.

"That sounds nice. Ok, I'll go." Pearl said, blush slowly creeping on her face at the prospect of spending time with Avery.

"You will? Alright!" Steven exclaimed. "I'll go ask my dad if we can stop by his house." Said Steven whilst running out the door, dragging Connie behind him by the hand. Soon, the two were mere dots in to distance in front of 'It's a Wash'.

As Pearl chuckled at this display, Garnet walked up to the slender gem, large smile still painting her face. This smile made Pearl rather curious, so she decided to ask about it.

"May I ask why you have such a large smile?" Pearl inquired.

"I'm just very happy for you and Avery." Garnet said bluntly.

Pearl's breath became hitched for a moment before looking down with a deep blush on her face.

"So, you already know?"

Garnet lowered her visor for a brief moment. "Future vision does have its perks."

"I suppose it does. Well, it's okay if you know for now, but can you keep it quiet around Amethyst? She'll never let up if she finds out."

"If I find out what?"

Pearl and Garnet turned to see Amethyst walking in, a curious smile on her face.

"Oh, um…" Pearl began, not sure how to lie her way out of this situation. "… It's, uh… nothing! Nothing at all!" She continued whilst waving her hand in front of her.

By the look Amethyst was giving, she was not buying whatever Pearl was selling.

"Oh really?" She said sarcastically, turning to Garnet instead. "Garnet, what were you talking about?"

"Pearl and Avery are together." Garnet said plainly.

"Garnet!" Pearl shouted at her tall companion.

"What!?" Amethyst exclaimed, a smile forming on her face. "Wow! I knew Avery had it bad for you, but not the other way around. It's so fitting, though: Two boring people in love with each other."

"Amethyst!" It was now Amethyst's turn to be shouted at.

All the while, Amethyst was laughing hysterically (both at her own joke and Pearl's reaction). After several moments, however, she calmed down and said nonchalantly:

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm happy for ya."

Pearl took a deep breath to calm herself down, rubbing her temples to stave off a headache she knew would never come.

"Let's just head to Greg's van. I don't want to keep Avery waiting." The pale gem said.

"He doesn't even know we're going to see a movie yet." Garnet said.

"… Touché." Pearl said, defeated.

* * *

*Knock, knock, knock*

Avery looked up from his laptop, stopping his typing of the quarterly reports Priyanka was wanting soon. Saving his document them minimizing it, putting his laptop on the coffee table in front of him, Avery stood up and walked towards the front door. When he opened it, he couldn't be happier that it revealed Pearl.

"Pearl! Long time no see." Avery said jokingly.

Pearl looked confusedly at her boyfriend. "Avery, it's only been about ten minutes since we last saw each other."

Avery chuckled. "I understand that, it was meant to be taken in a humorous fashion."

"… Oh." Pearl said, blank faced. "A-anyway," She continued. "The Gems, Connie, Greg and I were going into town to see a movie. W-would you like to join us." Pearl asked, a smile and blush making it way to her face.

Avery's face was doing much the same.

"I'd love to." He said wholeheartedly. "Let me just gather up some things, and I'll-"

Avery's sentence was interrupted by a buzzing emanating from his pocket.

"Looks like I'm getting a call." Avery said obviously while removing his phone from the confines of his pocket.

Priyanka, the phone said.

"Ah darn, It's Mrs. Maheswaran. Would you mind if I take this? I shouldn't be more than ten minutes."

"Not at all, go ahead." Pearl said politely.

"Thanks." Said Avery with an appreciative smile. With that, he went inside and climbed his stairs, wanting to find silence for his phone call.

Pearl was about to turn around and wait for Avery in Greg's van, but she heard a rhythmic beeping coming from Avery's laptop. Letting herself in, she looked on Avery's computer screen to see:

Skype call waiting.

Pearl had heard of Skype from Steven. It was a way for humans a great distance away to communicate via their computer. Not wanting for whoever was on the other end to think Avery rude, Pearl decided to answer the call to inform them that Avery couldn't come to talk.

Picking up the wireless mouse near the laptop, Pearl hovered the pointer over 'answer call' and clicked the left mouse button. When she did, the Skype window revealed a man yellowish blonde hair, electric blue eyes and a toothy grin.

"Hey there, Aver-"The man stopped short when he saw who was on the other end.

"I take it you were wishing to talk to Avery?" Pearl questioned, certain what the answer was.

"Um, yeah." The man said. "Where is he?"

"He's currently on the phone with somebody." Pearl explained.

"I see. Say, I have a question." The man said.

"That being?"

"… Who are you?" The man asked, one eyebrow arched.

"Oh." Pearl just now realized she hadn't explained who she was. "How rude of me. My name is Pearl, I'm Avery's girlfriend."

"Pearl, huh-"The man's jaw suddenly dropped at what he heard. His mouth slowly shifted into a smile, however, for whatever reason.

"Um… Is something the matter?" Pearl asked awkwardly.

"Excuse me for just a sec." The man said before bolting out of sight. He was however, near enough to his computer that his voice could be heard.

"Jasmine, get up here, you have to see this!" The man called excitedly.

"What's up?" A feminine voice questioned. Pearl could only guess that it belonged to the supposed 'Jasmine'.

"Avery has a girlfriend! And she's hot!" The man exclaimed, his last remark making Pearl blush embarrassedly.

"What!?" The feminine voice called back, apparently flabbergasted.

With the sound feet on steps, the man from earlier as well as a woman entered the Skype window. The woman had long black hair with what appeared to be a solitary strand of pink, as well as sea green eyes.

"Wow, you're right, she is _**hot**_." The woman said, saying 'hot' with extreme intensity.

"O-o-oh… um…" The attention that these two people were giving Pearl was making the gem rather uncomfortable.

"Sorry, sorry." The woman said with a laugh. "I can't help my craziness. You're just Avery's first girlfriend, so I was just a bit surprised is all."

"I-I see. I understand… I guess?" Pearl said.

Both the man and the woman had a good laugh at Pearl's reaction.

"I don't believe we've introduced ourselves," The man started. "I'm Jessie."

"And I'm Jasmine, as I'm sure you've heard my husband shout." The woman continued.

"I see. Pleasure to meet you." Pearl said with a voice as polite as she could muster.

"Well, I'm guessing that my wife and I have freaked you out enough," Jessie said with a chuckle. "So, we'll leave you."

"Oh, okay. Very well." Pearl said, sighing internally with relief.

"Wait, before we go," Jasmine stopped Pearl before she could exit out of the window. "Would you mind telling Avery to call us back? We have a lot to talk with him now, that's for certain."

"Don't worry, I will."

"Thank you so much." Jasmine said.

"Hope to see you again, Pearl!" Jessie continued.

And with that, Both Jessie and Pearl exited out of their windows. At the same time, Pearl heard a thudding coming down the stairs. Turning to look towards them, the gem saw Avery dressed up in a black blazer and matching slacks.

"Oh, I see you let yourself in." Avery observed.

"I did." Said Pearl, feeling a heat rise in her chest and face seeing Avery dressed like he was. "You look… very handsome." She continued.

"Oh, um… thank you." Avery said, the same heat rising in his face.

"So… shall we go?" Pearl asked, teal blush more than apparent on her face.

Avery smiled lovingly at Pearl, walking over to her and interlocking his hand with hers.

"Of course." He said.

* * *

 **Good Morrow, People of Fanfiction! So recently I've been thinking about a certain dreaded question, and I wanted to share it with you lovely lot: Do you want there to be lemons in this story. Now don't misunderstand me: If there were lemons, the story would in no way shape or form be only based around sex. However, I can absolutely understand not wanting lemons in this story, so that's why I'm asking you guys whether you want to see it or not. Please leave your comments/reviews and tell me what you think of this matter. Thank you so much.**


	18. Chapter 18

"Alright, let's be on our way." Pearl said as she stepped outside, slowly striding towards Greg's van.

"Oh, Actually," Avery put a hand on Pearl's shoulder, stopping her. "Would you like to ride with me in my car? Not that I don't like the others' company, but this way we can have a bit more privacy with our conversation."

Pearl smiled at Avery, liking the sound of his idea.

"I would like that."

Upon Pearl saying that, Avery withdrew his keys from his pocket and said with a wave of his hand towards his automobile:

"Then, shall we?"

"We shall." Pearl responded with a slight chuckle.

Avery looked at Greg through his front window, pointing at himself and Pearl and nodding towards his car to signify what was going on. Greg understood, nodding himself. He also turned to the back of the van, most likely to tell Steven and the others what was going on.

Avery and Pearl got in the former's car, situating themselves until comfortable.

"Say, would you mind if I put on some music?" Avery asked Pearl.

"Huh? Oh, not at all, go ahead." The pale gem said.

"Thanks. If you don't like it, just tell me."

Avery reached into the center compartment between Pearl's seat and his. Out of it he retrieved a small, black pleather zippered case. Avery opened it, revealing a slew of both official and burned CDs. The CD that he decided to single out for listening was burned, and on it in black marker was labeled "RHCP".

"RHCP? What does that mean?" Pearl questioned, eyebrow cocked.

"It stands for Red Hot Chili Peppers."

"Oh. I see."

Avery slipped the CD into the player above the car's radio, and soon after he and Pearl were serenaded by a guitar and bass playing in near tandem before the lyrics kicked in:

" _ **Scar Tissue that I wish you saw**_

 _ **Sarcastic Mr. Know-it-all**_

 _ **Close your eyes and I'll kiss you 'cause**_

 _ **With the birds I share…"**_

"Hmmm… interesting." Pearl said after the first verse.

"Do you not like it?" Avery questioned.

"No, it's not that. I just don't partake in human music very often, so I usually just label it as strange." Pearl explained.

"Aha." Upon Avery saying this, Greg's van pulled in front of him and Pearl and started on its way.

"Whoops, we should probably start heading out." Avery said, Turning his steering wheel and following Greg.

Snaking their way through the city streets and finally finding themselves on the highway to the city, Avery and Pearl spent some time just listening to music and enjoying each other's company, content smiles on their faces. The comfortable silence was broken, however, when Pearl had a question on her mind that she wanted answered.

"So, tell me Avery: Who are Jessie and Jasmine?" She asked.

Avery gave Pearl a sideways glance filled with surprise.

"How do you know about those two?" He asked in turn.

"While you were talking on the phone, they gave a Skype call over your computer. I didn't want whoever was calling to think you were rude, so I answered it and it revealed those two."

"I see." Said Avery. "What did they want to talk about?"

Pearl began to blush nervously before saying:

"I didn't get the chance to find out, because when I told them I was your girlfriend they got excited and forgot all about it."

Avery began to laugh.

"What's so funny? Pearl questioned.

"Oh, I just had a feeling they would react like that when they found out I had a girlfriend." Avery explained.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, Jasmine and Jessie have a tendency to get involved in people's lives."

"I see…" Said Pearl, slightly worried that they might do the same in Avery's and her life.

"Don't worry, though, they're really nice people. Granted, Jessie can be a bit quick to anger and Jasmine is somewhat… overtly sexual, but they're always there when you need them and are quite accommodating."

"Oh. Well, that is nice."

The two continued in silence for several more minutes, until Pearl broke it again with another question she had on her mind with the discussion of friends.

"So, what other kinds of friends do you have?" She asked.

"Let's see… besides Jessie and Jasmine, there's you, Garnet and Amethyst, Steven and Connie, Priyanka, my father and sister… that's about it." Avery listed off.

"Nobody else?" Pearl inquired.

Avery sat in silence.

Pearl found this strange, so she addressed her paramour, turning her head away from the front window in the process.

Upon doing so, Pearl could see that Avery was visibly distraught for some reason. Worry slowly spread across Pearl's face, seeing Avery in this state. She had only seen this side of him when he was talking about his mother.

"Avery?" Pearl questioned.

More silence.

Now Avery had tilted his steering wheel slightly, pulling over to the side of the highway, his head drooping. Pearl was very worried now.

"… A-Avery? What's the matter?"

Avery quickly pulled out his cellphone (This action making Pearl flinch) and typed in a number. Putting the cellular device to his ear, Avery very soon said:

"Yeah, Steven? It's Avery. Sorry pal, but Pearl and I are going to be a late for the movie… We have to discuss something personal… Thanks for understanding, Steven. See ya."

With that, Avery hung up.

"Avery, are you okay? You're starting to scare me. Wait, what do we have to discuss that's personal?"

Avery smiled sadly at his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, this whole thing was completely unintentional. However, I needed to talk with you about something that I've been keeping buried in me for some time. Now that I have somebody like you to talk about things like these, things needs to change."

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Pearl asked, her curiosity piqued.

"My best friend Kyle. Well, former best friend."

"Former? Why 'former', did something happen?" Pearl asked.

"He's dead." Avery said bluntly.

Pearl gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. After Avery saying this, Pearl saw several tears roll slowly down the side of his face.

"Oh, Avery." Pearl said whilst reaching her body over the car's center compartment, wrapping Avery in as best of an embrace as she could, which he reciprocated. "I'm so sorry, I never knew."

"It's alright." Avery said with a hitch in his voice. "You couldn't have known. I promised myself I wouldn't tell anyone about him when he died."

"Why would you do that? It's obvious that he meant quite a bit to you."

"Because I needed to start a new life. One without him."

Pearl looked at Avery confusedly.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"What I mean by that is I moved here because of his death. I just needed a clean slate. He meant so much to me that I essentially based my life around him. My job, my preferences, where I lived: All were because I just wanted to help him. But when he died, it felt like my reason to live had just disappeared. Does that sound crazy to you?"

Pearl looked at Avery with extreme understanding, flashes of pink hair and warm smiles filling her brain.

"Not at all." Pearl said, tightening her hold around his waist.

The two sat holding each other in silence, only broken by the occasional sob from Avery. Once again, though, Pearl formed another question, one that she thought in the back of her head she should be asking herself about a certain someone.

"Avery?"

"Yes, Pearl?"

"Did you love Kyle?"

Avery sat in silence for a couple moments before saying:

"Of course I loved him. Just not that way. Our relationship was completely platonic. However, I honestly think our friendship ran just as deep as any romantic relationship. We had just that much devotion to one another."

"I see." Pearl smiled at Avery. "That sounds very nice. Tell me, what was he like?"

Avery stared out of the front window, a nostalgic smile painting his face.

"Shrewd. Ambitious. He had a wicked sense of humor as well, albeit a dark one. I guess you could blame that on his upbringing."

"What do you mean by that?" Pearl inquired.

"Kyle's mother died at a very young age and he had an extremely abusive father."

"Oh dear. That sounds awful."

"It gets worse. To cope with it all, he turned to drugs. And I'm not talking marijuana, I'm talking cocaine and heroin."

Pearl gasped.

"My goodness…"

"That's actually the reason why he died: from a heroin overdose." The distaste on Avery's face at that time was more than prevalent. "I had already promised myself this, but the day Kyle died I vowed even further to never abuse any form of substance. I already lost my mother and best friend to it, I wasn't going to lose myself."

"I can completely understand that." Pearl said.

The two once again sat in silence for some time, before this time Avery had a question for Pearl.

"Pearl, can I ask a bit of a personal question?"

"We've been talking about something very personal for you for the past twenty minutes, so I don't see why not."

"Okay. I've been meaning to ask this ever since Greg hinted at it when we talked about a week ago, but since you asked me if I loved Kyle I just need to get this off my chest."

"What is it?" Pearl asked.

"… Did you love Rose?"

Pearl became blank faced, slowly looking towards the front window. After a few moments, she became visibly saddened.

"If this is too personal, you don't have to answer it-"Avery spoke before Pearl interrupted with:

"No. I need to address this. And to answer your question… yes I did. But please don't misunderstand: I understand that she's gone and can't come back, so I know that my feelings for her now are unhealthy. Also, there may be times where I speak of her and it is hard to tell whether or not I'm talking about her in a romantic sense, but please know…" Pearl turned towards Avery and kissed him on the cheek, simultaneously hugging his shoulders. "That I love you. I love you so much that I can hardly control myself."

Avery turned his head toward Pearl and smiled, his nose brushing against hers. He leaned his head in while wrapping his arms around her waist and gave Pearl a deep passionate kiss. Pearl gave a quiet contented moan from this and reciprocated the kiss. This continued on for some time until Pearl pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Avery asked, slightly disappointed from this action.

"Nothing." Pearl responded. "It's just that… well, I know we've only just become a couple and I said that I wanted to take it slow, but… I can't take it anymore."

Suddenly, a bright teal light filled the car interior, so bright that Avery needed to shield his eyes. When the light died down, Avery put his arm down to widen his field of view, and what he saw was… interesting to say the least. So interesting that it made Avery's jaw drop and eyes widen to a ridiculous degree.

Excluding her orange socks, Pearl had nothing on. This revealed her gorgeous, milky white skin in its entirety, as well as some other key components of her anatomy. Her breast may have been small, but that didn't matter to Avery: they were still beautiful. That, and they were also supple and perky, so that was also a plus. Another small feature of her breasts: her nipples were blue, which for whatever reason Avery found irresistible. On the other parts of her body, he could see much of either, but Avery could tell that her ass was shapely and her vagina was hairless.

Pearl crawled over the center console and once again started kissing Avery, all the while squeezing and stroking his crotch through his pants to get him excited.

"Please do this with me. I'm all yours." Pearl said seductively.

In response to this, Avery opened his door and kneeled down on the ground facing Pearl.

"Sit down on my seat and face this way." Avery said, somewhat breathless.

Pearl did as she was instructed and sat down on Avery's seat, legs dangling over the side of the seat.

"So, what are you going to do?" Pearl asked, still mostly naïve in the ways of sexual intercourse. In response, Avery smiled mischievously and slowly ran his tongue up and down the exterior of Pearl's pussy.

Pearl gasped, having never felt a sensation this good before in her long, long life.

"Oh, Avery... Please keep going." Pearl gasped out.

"With pleasure." Avery said.

With that, Avery decided to stick his tongue inside of Pearl's snatch, moving it up and down all the while.

"Oh dear! Don't stop!"

Avery wasn't going to, but a honk from a horn on the highway stopped him out of fear. He could even feel Pearl flinch from his position in front of her.

"… Maybe we should head back to my place and continue there." Avery suggested.

"I agree." Pearl said.

* * *

After approximately 20 minutes, Avery and Pearl finally arrived back at the former's house. Both rushed in (Pearl still naked), and when inside began once again to kiss passionately. Grabbing Pearl underneath her legs, Avery began to carry Pearl in a bridal style towards the second floor, where Avery's bed resided.

Upon reaching the bed, Avery laid Pearl very gently on it, and afterwards proceeded to strip himself of his jacket, belt, shoes and pants.

"What are you going to do next?" Pearl questioned while rubbing her vagina in anticipation/to replicate the feeling of Avery's tongue.

Avery crawled above Pearl and gave her another deep kiss. All the while, He pulled his undergarments down to reveal his penis, already stiff. Pearl gaped at the sight.

"The main event. Are you sure you're ready for this?" Avery asked lovingly.

Pearl smiled slowly.

"Go right ahead."

And go right ahead he did.

Thrusting in with a decent amount of force, Avery was immediately on cloud nine, feeling how warm, wet, and tight Pearl's pussy was.

"Wow that was a smoother entry than I thought it was going to be. You don't have a hymen?" Avery asked.

Pearl giggled slightly.

"You forget that gems can shapeshift. When I formed my vagina I excluded the hymen."

"Oh. I see."

"I also didn't form any eggs, so you can ejaculate freely inside of me." Pearl said seductively.

In Avery's head, he thought he could have used some better wording for that, but the effect was still the same, because if he wasn't full mast already he certainly was now.

"Anyways, enough talk. Make love to me." Pearl gasped.

Avery starting thrusting slowly, eventually picking up speed as he went along. Nearing the end of their session, he was moving his body hard enough that the bed was rocking violently and the floorboards were creaking.

"Oh yes! Oh, goodness, yes!" Pearl screamed out.

Avery grunted before saying:

"Are you ready, Pearl? I'm going to cum!"

"Cum? What does that mean?" Pearl asked innocently.

"I-It means ejaculate." Avery said with a slight chuckle.

"Oh! Then go right ahead."

With one last large thrust, Avery released his seed inside of his lover, some of it splattering on Pearl's thighs. Unsheathing himself from her pussy, Avery rolled over onto his back and hugged Pearl.

"I love you. So much." He said.

Pearl smiled sweetly back at her paramour and said:

"I love you too. Always."

* * *

 **Good morrow, people of Fanfiction! Well, since a decent number of you guys asked for it, I hope you enjoyed the first lemon of this series. Please forgive it if it's somewhat rough around the edges, this also the first lemon I've written. With that being said, please leave your reviews and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


	19. Chapter 19

It had been several months since Avery and Pearl had gotten together and their relationship was going strong. It had been, however, several days since they had seen each other, as the two had been busy with work and gem business alike. That was why Avery was in the midst of getting ready to go over to the beach house and surprise Pearl with a visit.

Little did Avery know that in the next few seconds, both his and Pearl's lives were going to be turned on their head.

*Knock, knock, knock*

Avery turned his head towards the front door. Strange, he wasn't expecting anyone at this time. Maybe, he thought with a smile, that Pearl had beaten him to the punch and was here to visit him. When he walked over to the door and opened it, though, he found that that wasn't the case.

The girl standing in the doorway looked rather shy, what with both her hands behind her back and her eyes peering towards the ground. She was relatively short, taller than Steven but smaller that Amethyst. She dressed very similarly to Pearl, with a tank top, shorts, and even a ribbon wrapped around her waist. In fact, she even looked similar to Pearl. Strikingly so, at least in the face. The most glaringly obvious connection with Pearl was her pointed nose. She looked different from Pearl, however, by the fact that she had shoulder length ebon hair and grey eyes. The most interesting thing about the girl was that she appeared to have a… gem on her forehead. It looked exactly like Pearl's

"Hello. Can I help you?" Avery asked with a polite smile, getting over the initial shock of the girl's similarities to Pearl.

"Yes, um… Are you Avery Pemberton?" The girl questioned, making eye contact with Avery.

"Yes, I am? Who might you be?" Avery inquired in turn.

"My name is Hazel, but that's not important. Do you happen to know the Crystal Gems?"

"… I do, yes. Why?"

"I know this is going to sound crazy, but just hear me out: What would you say if I was a half gem?"

"Wait, you're a half gem!? Like Steven?" Avery questioned, surprised.

"Yes, like Steven." Hazel said with a smile, apparently knowing Mr. Universe.

"Wow, that's amazing! Do the gems know about you?"

"They don't, no. That's because… well… I'm from the future." Hazel said hesitantly.

"Really? Wow. How exactly did you get back in time?"

"Wait… so you believe me?" Hazel said, voice brimming with hope.

"Hazel, once you get to know the Crystal Gems, you reside to yourself that pretty much anything can happen. Besides, Steven already told me a story about him time travelling, and I believed him."

"That's fantastic!" Said Hazel with glee. "Alright, I have one more question for you, and it's going to be very hard to believe, but I want you to trust me."

"Alright…" Avery said, becoming somewhat worried.

"… What would you say if I was yours and Pearl's daughter?"

At first, Avery slightly chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Hazel, but what I would say is…"

But then Avery began to look at her face once more.

The dark hair.

The grey eyes.

The pointed nose.

The way she dressed.

And her Gem.

Avery's heart began to beat faster and his eyes started to water. He stared at Hazel for a while, just gaping at her, until he slowly crouched down, wrapped her in a hug and said with tears running freely down his face:

"I'd believe you. Oh, Hazel…"

Hazel, in turn, wrapped her arms around Avery's neck and said whilst stroking his hair:

"It's okay, dad… It's okay."

The two stayed in this position for quite some time, until Avery finally broke away.

"I'm sorry for getting so emotional." He said. "It's just quite a bombshell to drop to know that you're going to have a daughter in the future."

"That's understandable." Hazel said with a smile.

"So, you still haven't answered a question of mine: How exactly did you get thrown back in time?"

"Oh, I was messing around with a trinket of mom's. I'm guessing its purpose was time travel, because… well, I'm standing here."

"I see." Avery said with a chuckle. His demeanor suddenly changed when Hazel brought up Pearl, though. "Wait, I have a question: Is Pearl still alive after your birth?"

Hazel began to look down to the ground in what appeared to be an even mixture of sadness and shame.

"No… She gave up her physical form to have me… I still feel responsible."

"Don't." Avery said abruptly. "Don't ever think that for a second. It's not your fault she's gone, nor is it anyone else's."

Hazel slowly looked up and began to smile.

"Thanks dad."

Avery began to chuckle and said:

"Dad, huh? I'm going to have to get used to you calling me that."

"Do you not want me to?" Hazel questioned.

"No, no, no, it's perfectly fine. I kind of like it, if I'm being honest."

"If you say so. Say, since we were talking about mom… is there any chance I can meet her?" Hazel inquired shyly.

Avery smiled sweetly at his daughter.

"Of course. I was just on my way over to her place. C'mon."

With that said, Avery and Hazel walked down to the former's car, got in and drove off towards the beach house.

* * *

 **Good morrow, People of Fanfiction! Sorry that this chapter:**

 **A.) Was very short**

 **B.) Suddenly dropped a new character/major plot point into the mix.**

 **I just had this idea for a child subplot in my head for a while and I wanted to have an introduction for Hazel that wasn't really bogged down by any other plot points.**

 **With that said, please leave your reviews and tell me what you think/what I can improve!**


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